


Unnamed SVT mess

by Dweam



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: #random, 1st story is 1st pov, Alternate Universe, Ambiguous Relationships, Comedy, Gen, M/M, Nobody is dating, One-Sided Attraction, Pining, chan is the brother soonyoung never had, english rusty, everything else is 3rd pov, except Seungcheol, mingyu and chan are brothers, potential "pairings"'s order doesn't matter at all, translations sometimes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2019-10-01 18:20:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 28,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17249111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dweam/pseuds/Dweam
Summary: Short stories (one-shots), featuring the Seventeen members, that are supposed to be funny.Each one of these stories has a different set of characters which will always be written at the beginning, in the notes, so you can skip those you don't want to read.【26: Heavy rain (Wonwoo)】It's raining a lot and Wonwoo is about to go home, when he notices Jihoon not budging an inch at the entrance.





	1. New Year (Chan)

**Author's Note:**

> **! ↓ long note ↓.**  
>   
>  Once upon a time, I was filled with determination when I saw a picture of Mingyu, Chan and Minghao, then I wanted to make short stories with them in an alternate universe where they're just ordinary people. This is the first one (which is why this note is long-), and **_I wanted to do it 1st POV so if you don't like that, you can skip it since the next ones are in 3rd POV_**. It's an intro and nothing will be linear(?) afterwards so you won't miss much.  
> This will be _comedy only_ , with a hint of romance? It will be ambiguous between some of the characters. As of now, I don't really want any of them to date, but maybe I'll change my mind whenever I'll want to stop. I hope this will be funny– (if it's not, then you simply do not have the same humor as me)
> 
>  ~~There isn't everyone yet!! It's hard to manage a lot of characters at the same time so I'll slowly add them in the future. ;;~~ now there's everyone lol I'm suffering. I'm already suffering because I'm not good at translating :D double the suffering. Why am I doing this to myself–  
> I'll be honest though, there isn't a lot of work going into this– Nothing is serious (hence the title–). I won't force myself if I'm not inspired. I will continue this as long as I still want to keep it going.  
> I am aware that I would get more exposure if I used '/' rather than '&' for all the "relationships" but here's why I keep '&' only: _Nobody is dating_. （*´▽｀*）
> 
> • **Updates:** every Tuesday. If I miss a tuesday, then I'll update on the next tuesday. Why tuesdays only? Because 2019 started with a tuesday. lol.
> 
>  
> 
> _Thank you for checking this out by the way!_  
>  If you spot any mistake, I would be happy if you could tell me about it! This one is a translation so maybe some parts don't make much sense, but I hope you can still understand everything. :)
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> happy new year :)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chan is with his friends and brother.
> 
> Chan is happy.
> 
> Chan is also questioning everyone's sanity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Chan** , Soonyoung, Mingyu, Minghao, Seungkwan, Hansol, Wonwoo, Jihoon  
> → translation
> 
> (it will change, so to avoid confusing anybody, I'll add these each time, except "translation" when it's not a translation  
> the first bold name is the main character; there might be stories where nobody in particular would be the main character though)

In the midst of all of my friends — and family, since there is Mingyu, my big brother —, I feel happy and lucky.

 

It’s the first time that we are all together to end the year and start a new one.

As usual, Wonwoo and Jihoon are with one another, and are making fun of Mingyu and Minghao, while Soonyoung is staying with me, and Hansol and Seungkwan are next to us.

So far, we have spent wonderful times together and I tell myself that I have no regrets, this friendship that binds all of us is the most precious thing we have. Well… I’m questioning that when I see what’s happening around me.

 

Mingyu and Minghao have been best friends, for so long. I had never seen them fight this much until Mingyu invited Soonyoung over to spend time with us. I could see that Mingyu really liked Soonyoung because he wanted to spend time with him more than with me, his only sibling!!

Anyway, since that day, a rivalry was born between them and they look so desperate that I’m exasperated, up to the point where I’m wondering how Soonyoung managed not to notice anything.

With that said, they’re still best friends, and their rivalry is invisible sometimes, especially when Soonyoung is nowhere to be seen actually.

 

Regarding Seungkwan now, it’s not anything better. I saw the way he looks at Hansol and it certainly doesn’t put me at ease… Hansol is pretty particular, but we get along and that’s all that matters. Still I wonder if he noticed anything…

 

Wonwoo and Jihoon are best friends with Soonyoung, they’re like the trio that’s funny to see. Wonwoo and Jihoon are introverts and are kind of similar in some ways, such as enjoying staying on their own, and even if they reject Soonyoung whenever he throws himself on them, they do it with love because they like him a lot, and Soonyoung knows it.

There are times where I envy them, but it’s quite rare because Soonyoung adores me. I can’t tell how much, but I literally prefer him over Mingyu and I almost want to trade my brother. At least, Soonyoung knows how to take care of me like a real big brother, unlike some people! It’s true that I also adore Soonyoung, but not as much as Mingyu and Minghao do.

 

In this apartment which is mine and also Mingyu’s where our parents left us alone for the new year to go with family, I feel like I’m the only healthy person. Well, maybe Hansol is too, but who knows…

Under this roof, Soonyoung is cuddling me, Mingyu is glaring at me, Minghao is ignoring us while eating whatever he can, Wonwoo is on his phone, Jihoon is taking photos of whatever amuses him, Seungkwan is holding Hansol’s hand, Hansol is feeding Seungkwan, and I’m starting to wonder if I regret something this year.

Maybe I should ask for better friends next year.

 

Anyway,

In the midst of all of his very particular friends, Chan feels happy and lucky.

 

Happy New Year, everybody!


	2. Bad Holidays (Hansol)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hansol, Soonyoung, Mingyu, Minghao and Seungkwan go on vacation all together,
> 
> but the first night is already a fiasco.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Hansol** , Soonyoung, Mingyu, Minghao, Seungkwan, Chan  
> → translation

“Holidays, finally!” Chan yelled when Mingyu told him the news; he’s leaving for the holidays for a few days with Minghao, Soonyoung, Hansol and Seungkwan. The car only has five seats so Chan can’t go with them. It didn’t seem like it was bothering him actually.

The place they go to has three bedrooms, so they were divided as follows: Soonyoung with Hansol, Seungkwan with Mingyu and Minghao, all by himself.

However, when the first night falls, Soonyoung falls asleep very fast next to Hansol who’s listening to music. They both have their own beds, slightly separated.

Someone knocks on the door, and Minghao comes in after hearing Hansol.

“Hm?” Hansol removes his earbuds so he can pay attention to the newcomer. “Do you need anything?”

Minghao mutters but it’s too quiet for Hansol to hear him, then he shrugs. “I felt a little lonely so I thought I could stay here instead.” And he lies down with Soonyoung who's back is facing them so he wouldn’t be able to see anything.

Hansol widens his eyes. Everyone, except Soonyoung, knows that a rivalry exists between Minghao and Mingyu only because of their gigantic crush on poor Soonyoung. He simply didn’t think that Minghao would be capable of doing such a thing.

“Uh…” he starts saying, embarrassed by the situation. “You can have my bed?”

Minghao smiles at him. “No, thank you, I’ll stay with Soonyoung.” And his arms ends up around Soonyoung’s hips.

No way Hansol is staying any longer. “Alright. Good night, hyung,” he says as he gets up from his bed.

“Good night.”

Hansol goes to the kitchen to drink a glass of water. He really needs it after what he witnessed.

Surprise, Mingyu is here too. “Oh, Hansol. What’s up?” he asks with a smile. Even when he’s tired, Mingyu is still so handsome.

Hansol hesitates. Then decides to tell him the truth. Because he doesn’t lie. “Minghao is sleeping with Soonyoung.”

It was more than enough to make Mingyu’s smile disappear. Of course, he previously separated them on purpose so that wouldn’t happen. “...Ah. Okay, I see,” he nods, looking down, his head surely full of thoughts. “I’ll let you have my bed if you’d like to sleep with Seungkwan. I have a hard time falling asleep with him because we’re freaking kids.”

They laugh then Hansol nods his head, and Mingyu is gone. Hansol takes his glass of water and leaves to join Seungkwan, who seems to be asleep.

He settles into Mingyu’s bed and puts himself at ease before putting his earbuds back into his ears when Seungkwan’s voice echoes through the room. “Hey Gyu, I thought about something…”

...Uh oh.   
Hansol turns around so only the back of his head is visible for Seungkwan, and he fixes the blanket on him so it covers everything but his head. Then, he thinks quickly, and realizes that hiding is a stupid idea.

Seungkwan continues before he can reveal himself. “I think that…”

That’s when Hansol removes an earbud and turns to him; Seungkwan has his back turned to him, so he can’t see him. “Seungkwan.”

Seungkwan’s body is slightly startled before turning towards Hansol. “...Oh, Hansol, you’re here…” he says and looks around, in the darkness of the night. “Uh… where’s Mingyu?”

Inside Hansol’s head, his brain tries to convince tiredness to let it make a short summary of the situation, but no argument works, so it gives up. “It’s a long story. So, I’m spending the night with you.”

Seungkwan appears to be thinking as well, then he nods. “Okay. Good night, Hansol.” And he turns around, the tip of his ears red.

Blinking, Hansol shrugs and turns around too, placing his earbud back in his ear to sleep. “Good night, Seungkwanie.”

 

The next morning, Seungkwan is silent and stays with Mingyu, who’s avoiding Minghao who’s trying to spend more time with Soonyoung while cleaning everyone’s belonging except Mingyu’s. Soonyoung stays with Hansol and asks him questions through his eyes that Hansol manages to understand, somehow, and responds only with shrugs. The only question between them that’s not silent is: “Did you wake up when Mingyu came into our room?”

“Yes,” Soonyoung replies, a small pout on his face. “He yelled at Minghao, I didn’t understand anything and I was looking for you. They told me you wanted to sleep somewhere else so I didn’t bother with them since I just wanted to sleep.” He sighs softly. “I really don’t understand where the problem is, Hao just wanted to sleep with me, it seems totally innocent to me… He even asked me if he could stay in my bed and I said yes.”

In front of all of his words, Hansol’s face stays stoic, but deep inside, he really wonders how Soonyoung manages to be this blind.

He’s really incredible.


	3. Minghao's dream (Minghao)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minghao is with Soonyoung and it feels like a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Minghao** , Soonyoung

_Click._

“Oh~ You look really nice here, Minghao.”

Minghao can't stop a huge smile from creeping onto his own face.

He loves it so much.

This moment spent with his crush will always stay in his brain and heart.

Or so he says.

“Good.” he says after checking the photo. “We can stop here, we've been doing this for ten minutes at least.”

“It's enough?”

“Yes, Shunrong.”

Soonyoung laughs at his words.

Minghao loves his laugh so much he has dreams of it.

“Thank you.” Minghao continues, a smile still on his face.

Then Soonyoung is all smile, and Minghao is deeply in love.

“It was my pleasure, love~”

A hug follows, Minghao melts instantly.

They're staring at each other, Minghao can't resist anymore. He looks at Soonyoung and slowly closes his eyes as he leans forward.

Then he feels a tap on his cheek.

Then another.

“Hey, are you awake?”

It's Soonyoung.

Minghao opens his eyes and realizes he is in his bed.

He looks at Soonyoung next to him, and stares silently, and nods once.

It brings a big smile onto Soonyoung's face, the one Minghao loves.

“Good morning!”

Minghao smiles back at him. “Good morning.”

“Mingyu is making breakfast, just so you know.” The older shrugs.

“Okay, thanks for letting me know.”

“You're welcome!” And Soonyoung closes the door behind him, leaving Minghao alone in his room.

So… it was a dream after all.

His feelings are still unnoticed.

…

Maybe someday, Minghao will be brave enough to face his fear and tell Soonyoung about them.

Yes.

With that goal in mind, yet again, Minghao gets up and prepares himself for the day.


	4. Mingyu, Chan and Minghao

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mingyu and Minghao want to go shopping; and they have to drag Chan with them, thanks to his mom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** Mingyu, Minghao, Chan  
> 

Someone knocks on the front door and Mingyu immediately rushes towards it. “It's Minghao!” he yells, informing his family.

He opens the door and, indeed, it is Minghao. “Hey, you ready?” he asks, smiling.

Mingyu nods at him. They're going shopping because they both are in need of getting new clothes for new looks. “Yeah, let me put my shoes on and retrieve my bag!” And he goes to do what he has to do.

In the meantime, Mingyu's little brother peeks at the entrance and Minghao grins at him right when he notices him, and waves his hand at him. “Hey Chan, how are you?”

Chan smiles back at him and bows, a habit he got because of his parents forcing him to be this polite every now and then. “Hi hyung, I'm good today. What about you?”

“I'm good too,” Minghao responds. “You don't want to go shopping with us?”

Chan is about to say no, but it doesn't look like his luck is around the corner this day. “Yes, Minghao is right. You should go too, Channie,” Chan's mother says with a smile.

He knows that face; it means he _has_ to go.

“Yes, mom.”

Sighing, Chan retreats and Mingyu comes back. “Mom, Chan doesn't have to accompany us…” he says, almost pouting.

But their mother isn't agreeing with him. “Chan barely goes out. This is a great opportunity for him, especially since he knows both of you.”

Mingyu looks like a beaten puppy, and Minghao almost feels sorry for the siblings.

 

 

“Here, put this on,” Mingyu says and Chan turns around to look at him.

It's a skirt.

Chan shoves his brother away. “No.”

Mingyu laughs and puts the skirt back where he found it, shrugging his shoulders, “Too bad, it would look good on you,” he adds with a grin which makes Chan frown even more. “Okay okay, you can go pick whatever clothes you want, I'll pay for the best outfit you can pull out.”

Chan's eyes seem to shine right when he hears these words; he can't believe his brother would do that for him. “Really?!?”

With a chuckle, Mingyu nods and grins at him, then Chan is gone with a smile on his face.

“How cute~. I'm so envious, I wish I wasn't an only child sometimes,” Minghao says as he approaches his best friend with a slight pout on his lips.

“Well, you're kind of part of the family at this point,” Mingyu laughs.

Minghao follows. “True. You're the best brothers I could ever ask for.” He smiles softly while watching Chan running around with clothes in his arms.

The other looks at the youngest as well, smiling. His eyes then turn back to Minghao. “So, did you get anything interesting?”

“Yup.” The Chinese boy lifts his bag and shows his friend. “There's not a lot but I really like this sweater, these shirts, these pants and these socks.”

“Oh~. I see.” Mingyu nods at him.

Then Chan is back. “Hyung! I wanna show you what I found!”

They all go to the dressing room and Chan hides behind one of the curtains, before he comes out with a new outfit on him.

Grinning, he looks at the taller males. “So?”

His brother looks at him and thinks, humming loudly, then he turns to Minghao, because Minghao knows better about fashion than him. “In my opinion, it looks pretty good, but I'm sure it would look even better if you changed into that other shirt you picked and a hat,” Minghao says with a hand on his chin.

Chan blinks, looks at himself, and nods before he goes back to hiding.

When he comes out again, both Mingyu and Minghao show him their thumbs up.

Mingyu ends up really paying for Chan's new clothes and a beret for him as well since he thought he looked cute with it, while he, himself, only got a few underwear.


	5. Soonyoung (Soonyoung)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mingyu invites Soonyoung and Soonyoung meets Minghao and Chan after ditching Wonwoo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Soonyoung** , Wonwoo, Mingyu, Minghao, Chan

A loud sigh escapes from Soonyoung’s lips as his back collapses against the chair he’s sitting on.

The main reason why he’s even stuck in this library right this instant? He lost a bet to Jeon Wonwoo, also known as one of his best friends. Now he has to help him clean the place and place books where they are supposed to be, because some people find it fun to misplace them and it annoys his friend who happens to be the owner of this place. … More like, his family owns it.

“Wonuuuu…” Soonyoung starts whining. “I’m tired, can I go home already?”

Of course, Wonwoo shakes his head at him. “No, it’s only been an hour and you barely did anything!”

“Pffft.” The other male puffs his cheeks and checks his phone instead of resuming his task. Right at the same time, it vibrates and a notification appears on the screen. “Oh, Mingyu? What does he want..?” he mutters so Wonwoo can’t hear him well. Speaking of who, he briefly turns his head in his direction, but doesn’t say anything.

 

————————————

Mingyuu

————————————

Hey Soon!

Hey, what’s up? :)

I’m booored…

Can we hang out?

Oh

Sure, when do you wanna do that?

Are you free this afternoon?

————————————

 

It’s almost eleven in the morning and the library is closed the entire day. Surely, Wonwoo will let him go soon, right?

Soonyoung looks at Wonwoo and pouts immediately. “Wonuu! I got plans this afternoon, can I leave now?”

Wonwoo turns to him and makes a face, his arms crossed, then he sighs. “Okay, just because I’m sure you would do nothing here even if you stayed.”

At that, Soonyoung’s face brightens and a huge smile appears on it. He gets up and happily says, “Yes!!! Thank you– Wait, what did you say about me?!” It makes Wonwoo laugh.

“Surely you heard me perfectly, Soonie,” he ruffles the shorter’s hair with a fond smile then pats his shoulder as his friend tries to push him away. “Come on now, Mingyu is waiting for you.”

Soonyoung blinks at him. “Hey, you don’t even know who he–”

“Your crush, who else.” Wonwoo walks away, shrugging his shoulders.

“He’s not my crush!” Once again, Soonyoung puffs his pink cheeks and sighs. His attention is back on his phone right after.

 

————————————

Mingyuu

————————————

Yes :D

I’m free right now actually

Cool!

Can we eat together?

Yeah

Pizza?

Sounds good to me

Can some friends of mine tag along?

Only if there aren’t many of them

Don’t worry, it’s only my best friend and my little brother

Just wanted to introduce you to them ^^/

(because they insisted)

Alright then ^^

We could get a gigantic pizza!!!

XD you and your crazy ideas

:p

We can go the greatest pizzeria I ever went to in this area

I’ll text you the address!

Okay!

————————————

  
  


“Wow, you actually arrived first!” Soonyoung grins as he arrives inside the pizzeria he was talking about earlier.

Mingyu smiles back at him while the latter sits down in front of him. “I guess we were too hungry.” They chuckle.

The older boy then turns to his left and introduces himself to the two unknown faces, “Hi, I’m Soonyoung!”

“Hi,” the one who looks older than the other and who is right next to Soonyoung replies with a small smile. “I’m Minghao.”

“And this is Chiitan,” Mingyu says, introducing the boy sitting next to him, before he gets hit on his ribcage. “Ow!”

“Don’t listen to him– my name is Chan, not Chiitan. Nice to meet you, Soonyoung hyung!” the boy corrects and holds out his hand, which Soonyoung takes and shakes quickly.

“Nice to meet you too,” Soonyoung says, amused. Then he turns back to Mingyu. “So, did you guys order yet?”

Mingyu shakes his head. “No, not yet. We were waiting for you.”

“Aww~,” the other coos, before he grabs the menu that was conveniently waiting for him in the middle of the table; Chan takes the other one. “Okay, let’s pick something now.”

 

Then the day continues smoothly, Soonyoung gets to know Minghao and Chan even if it’s a little hard to approach Chan because Mingyu and Minghao keep trying to be close to him. He doesn’t understand why and shrugs it off; they certainly just like him a lot and Chan doesn’t. Or Chan is a little shy.

When Soonyoung comes back to his place, he looks up ‘Chiitan’ and finds out that Chiitan is a female otter mascot in Japan. Soonyoung being Soonyoung, he texts Mingyu about it and he quickly gets a reply from his friend. ‘ _Of course Chan is an otter_ ’, the message says.

Soonyoung chuckles and gets himself ready for bed.


	6. Hugs (Mingyu)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soonyoung loves hugs and still insists even when he keeps getting rejected by his friends. Mingyu is jealous, Minghao argues with him and Chan is the luckiest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Mingyu** , Soonyoung, Wonwoo, Jihoon, Minghao, Chan  
> → translation

Soonyoung is resting on his couch, in his home where he invited his friends. He seems happy where he is.

But that’s not all.

On his left, there’s Wonwoo, his best friend, and on his right, Jihoon, his other best friend.

Soonyoung appears to be at ease between them, Mingyu feels envious. It’s pretty much justified anyway, seeing as Soonyoung slides an arm around Wonwoo’s shoulders, but Wonwoo rejects him, then Soonyoung does the same to Jihoon, but Jihoon rejects him as well.

If it was Mingyu instead of them, he would have never rejected Soonyoung’s affection. On the contrary, he would cuddle him with so much love, that would’ve been so good.

But Mingyu is not very brave and he doesn’t dare to do _it_.

Minghao approaches him, looks at what he’s looking at, and chuckles softly. “What’s up? Jealous?” he asks mockingly.

In front of him, Mingyu makes a face. “Don’t say that as if it was you he was running after, because I’m pretty sure he will never be interested by a person like you.”

“Tch. There’s no need to say that. Soonie is just slow, soon he will realize that he needs me by his side for the rest of his life.” Minghao shakes his head, sighing. “Why am I even still friend with you anyway…”

“First of all, it’s Soonyoung _hyung_ , show some respect! And he needs a tall, strong and intelligent man to help him, a man who knows how to cook, clean and help him during every situation–”

“Yes, you mean _Xu Minghao_.”

“No, I’m very sure that I mean _Kim Mingyu_.”

While the two friends are pointlessly arguing, Jihoon and Wonwoo are gone, leaving Soonyoung all alone on the couch. They’re way too busy to join Soonyoung, but when they finally have the opportunity to do so, Chan appears, and Soonyoung almost immediately throws himself on him and hugs him against Chan’s will, but it doesn’t seem to bother the younger boy who smiles and hugs him back.

Mingyu never felt this jealous of his own little brother before.

Minghao is amused by the situation even though he certainly is jealous too. “For now, Channie’s the luckiest here,” he says with a laugh, then a smirk appears on his lips. “I will be next.”

Mingyu doesn’t even want to fight anymore, so he lazily looks back at Minghao and flips him the bird before going (or running away) to the toilets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if everything goes as planned, there should be a new character in the next story (or chapter, if you prefer).


	7. Closet gay (Seungkwan)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seungkwan loves Hansol and wants him to come out of the closet, unleash his jealousy and make him his. He invites him and a special guest to help him, but will it be successful? Seungkwan believes the answer is yes, because he trusts his gut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Seungkwan** , Hansol, Sungyeon
> 
> I realize making all of this is pretty helpful for me after all despite being time consuming. I wasn't very happy with everything I wrote recently, so this helps me get back on tracks o/

It’s ringing.

Seungkwan is getting anxious.

Then finally, it’s not ringing anymore and a voice soon replaces its sound. “Hi?”

“Sungyeonie~ Hi! It’s been a while, how are you doing?” he grins as he responds to Sungyeon.

“Oh, yeah! I’m a bit stressed because of my upcoming exams but I try to tell myself that everything will be okay…” she sighs. “Other than that, I’m pretty good.”

“Fighting!!!” Seungkwan suddenly yells. “I’m sure everything will be fine don’t worry about it!”

Sungyeon laughs at the other end. “I hope what you’re saying is true, but when I remember what happened the other–”

“SHHH!!” Seungkwan immediately interrupts her. “Nothing happened! And I’m good, I’m happy, I thank you not for not asking.” He gets another laugh as a reply. “Anyway, the reason why I’m calling you…”

  


Later, Seungkwan hears knocks on the front door and his mother is faster than him, so she opens it and ‘surprise’, there are Sungyeon and her mother.

He approaches them and after greetings and talking a bit because they didn’t see each other for weeks, he invites Sungyeon to his room.

“So, remember what I told you on the phone?” he starts after she takes a seat on his chair, and he gets his bum comfortable on his bed.

Sungyeon nods. “Yes. You like that guy that I never met and you want to make him jealous by making him believe that you and I are dating even though we’re cousins, it’s kind of incest,” she says to prove him that she remembers it all.

“Don’t say that so loud like that!” Seungkwan pales. “I don’t want my mom to hear that, she’ll think I’m a bad guy!” He can already imagine her reaction; she would be lecturing him for _hours_.

“Says the one who’s the loudest here,” Sungyeon sticks her tongue out at him. “I wouldn’t mind seeing that happen for real though.” She shrugs.

“Hey, you’re supposed to be on my side!” Seungkwan tries to defend himself. He knows his idea isn’t great, but he can’t think of anything else so it must be it! Right?

She changes the subject of the conversation. “When am I meeting the prince charming then?”

“ _When am I meeting the prince charming theeeen_ ,” Seungkwan imitates her with a bored face. Of course, he knows his younger cousin means no harm, she’s just teasing, but still he can’t help it. If he could take out his claws and growl, he definitely would; that’s how savage Boo Seungkwan can be. “We’ll go to the mall around two, I told him to be there at that time.”

Sungyeon grins. “Alright.”

After that, Seungkwan changes into an outfit that would match Sungyeon’s better so they can look even more like a couple.

When they reach the mall, Hansol isn’t there yet so they decide to recap everything they have to remember so Hansol will believe they’re super close and intimate, and he should be jealous.

At this point, Seungkwan doesn’t even know what he should expect from his crush. He doesn’t know but trusts his gut so he keeps going.

“Don’t forget, you should always stay close to me and never tell him your Korean name,” Seungkwan tells Sungyeon, who nods in response. “You can cling onto me from time to time and kiss my cheeks.”

“Won’t he get suspicious if I don’t kiss you on the lips?”

Seungkwan immediately panics and blushes, and overreacts, at her question. “Th–there are shy couples out there okay!”

She giggles and it looks forced; of course she’s just teasing him, again.

Suddenly, a voice echoes into their ears. “Hey, Seungkwan!”

It’s Hansol.

Time to execute the plan.

Hopefully, everything will be alright.

Seungkwan is already scared.

“Hi Hansol!” he replies cheerfully and Hansol hugs him quickly, before turning to Sungyeon.

“Hi,” he simply says.

“Hi,” she says back, looking a little shy already. Is she also having a crush on him?? Hansol can’t see him so Seungkwan frowns at her, but it seems like she doesn’t care. “You’re hot.”

Deadass.

Sungyeon is shameless, to Seungkwan’s misfortune.

Hansol is taken aback and blinks, blushing lightly. Seungkwan is getting mad. “Oh, uh… thanks.” Hansol rubs his nape. “I’m Hansol, nice to meet you,” he adds, holding out his hand for the girl to shake.

So she takes it with a giant smile and shakes it accordingly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Hansol. I’m Shannon.”

Their hands finally separate, Seungkwan can release the breath he didn’t know he was holding. “Wow, Shannon? Are you, perhaps, from the States too?” Hansol asks, in English. Maybe he recognized the accent Sungyeon used when she said her name. Seungkwan squints. Nobody is paying attention to him anyway.

“Yes!” She claps her hands together and her eyes are glowing. They’re getting along so well and so fast that Seungkwan starts regretting everything. Maybe he should’ve picked someone else to play pretend with him.

“Oh, that’s cool.” Hansol smiles then turns to Seungkwan. At last he pays attention to his _best friend_. “So, you’re friends with Shannon, Seungkwanie?”

Seungkwan blushes. The nickname was _so_ unnecessary but he’s not going to complain. “I–in fact, she’s my girlfriend!” He wraps an arm around Sungyeon’s hips who looks surprised even though she shouldn’t have that face on right now; it’s showing Hansol that he’s lying!

Hansol looks surprised too. He looks very surprised, actually. A little disappointed too. “...Oh, really? You never told me you had one.”

Giving his best friend and crush trust issues was the last thing Seungkwan wanted. But he’s not going to give up. Not yet. “I know, I’m sorry. We started dating recently,” Seungkwan says in a rather fast pace. He tries to be convincing but he can’t look at Hansol in the eye.

Eventually, he forces Sungyeon to agree with him and she nods at his words.

Hansol raises a brow but doesn’t insist.

 

The trio walks around and buys a few things, until they start getting hungry and decide to take a break wherever they can sit down and eat in the mall. When Hansol leaves the cousins for the restroom, they start whispering to each other. “Geez, you’re so convincing,” Sungyeon starts. “You’re too awkward, I’m sure Hansol knows we’re lying to his face…!”

“Talk for yourself, you weren’t close enough to me,” Seungkwan snorts. “Maybe he only has suspicions, I don’t know.” He shrugs then bites into his slice of pizza.

She sighs. “Look, he seems like a very kind person, I’m sure he wouldn’t be mad at you if you told him the truth.”

It annoys Seungkwan very fast. “ _The truth_? Like what? ‘Actually, my girlfriend is not my girlfriend but my cousin and I’m gay and I’m in love with you’?”

Sungyeon looks like she’s thinking about it then she shrugs. “Yeah, something like that– wait, he doesn’t know you’re gay?!” Seungkwan blinks and shakes his head. “What?? Didn’t you tell me he’s your best friend earlier?!”

“Yes but– I– it’s complicated, alright.” He tries to shrink into the seat but in vain.

She gives him a look of compassion and gives his hand a squeeze to show him that she’s with him, and Seungkwan appreciates that.

“Thank you,” he says and gives her a hug.

Hansol comes back right after, they talk together and go to a last store until Sungyeon’s phone interrupts them.

“Sorry,” she bows to them and walks away so she can answer the call.

It’s awkward between the two best friends. Seungkwan doesn’t know what to do nor what to say, it’s an impasse. He feels nervous and plays with his fingers while waiting for Sungyeon to come back.

Maybe this was all a bad idea after all.

He’s scared Hansol might find out and be mad at him.

But Hansol looks at peace right now.

But he shouldn’t.

He should be jealous and possessive. He should try to take Seungkwan away from Sungyeon!

But he’s not.

Seungkwan doesn’t understand.

“Are you okay?” Hansol asks, taking Seungkwan out of his thoughts.

“Wh–who? Me??” Seungkwan asks back. He doesn't know what to say to show that everything's fine, so he decides to joke about it. “No, I'm Seungkwan, remember?”

Hansol lets out a loud laugh and attracts attention on them but they both can't care less. “Seriously, don't try to hide. I know when you're lying to me.”

“And how can you be so sure of yourself?” Seungkwan puffs his cheeks, like a child. Hansol runs a hand through his friend's hair with a smile on his face.

“You're my best friend, I know you perfectly.” He retreats his hand and hides it in his pocket. “Until you calm down and tell me why you're so nervous with me, I'll be patient–”

“There's nothing to explain,” Seungkwan interrupts, crossing his arms. “I’m nervous because you met Sungyeon and you get along a little too well for my liking.”

Hansol stares at him in confusion. “ _Sungyeon_ …?”

 _Shit._ Of course Seungkwan would make that mistake…!! He remembers telling him about Bae Sungyeon, his little cousin who was born in the same country as his best friend, and some of the shenanigans they did together. That all happened a long time ago, but surely Hansol remembers, because Hansol hardly forgets anything when it comes to Seungkwan.

Anyway,

it's over.

Sungyeon comes back with a wide smile right at the same moment. “Sorry guys, it was my mom.” But her smile immediately disappear when she notices the changes on both boys. “…Oh, what's wrong?” She walks towards Seungkwan and holds his hand, but there's no reaction.

 

“So… for whatever reason, you two pretended to be dating? I can’t even understand why you would do that.” Hansol pinches the bridge of his own nose. “Because you thought you would enjoy it better if you turned it into a ‘date’? You just made me feel like a third wheel!”

“Sorry!” Seungkwan joins his hands in front of his face and pouts.

The tallest boy dragged them to an open area where there aren’t a lot of people to witness their conversation. This isn’t what was supposed to happen. Hansol wasn’t supposed to know any of this…

Seungkwan wants to avoid trusting his gut from now on.

“I’m mad at both of you now,” Hansol adds, his arms crossed.

“It was his idea, not mine,” Sungyeon scoffs.

“But you agreed with me!” Seungkwan tries to defend himself.

“I still told you it would be a bad idea! Besides, I was curious to see who your c–best friend was.” She frowns. So does Seungkwan. She almost revealed his feelings in front of Hansol!

Even though Hansol said he was mad, he’s smiling while looking at the cousins. “How cute, you look like actual siblings! I mean– I know Seungkwan already has sisters, but you look like you’re one of them too.” He laughs and pats Sungyeon’s head.

“Hey, I’m not a child!” she complains.

Still he smiles. “It’s tough to stay mad at you for a while. Okay, I forgive you, but promise me you two won’t do that again.”

“Okaaay, mooom,” Seungkwan says sarcastically.

They talk a bit more then go home. First, they accompany Hansol to his home, then Seungkwan and Sungyeon go back to Seungkwan’s.

Sungyeon’s mother isn’t there yet so they go to Seungkwan’s room.

The older cousin sighs loudly as he throws himself on his bed. “It was a failure after all.”

Sungyeon nods and sits next to him, at the edge of the bed. “Yeah, I told you. It was all your fault, you can’t blame me.” She shrugs. Seungkwan only groans at that and covers his head with his pillow, which the latter removes quickly. “Hey, it wasn’t that bad, you don’t have to choke yourself.”

“But he likes me less than before!”

She shakes her head. “No, he doesn’t. He adores you so much he wouldn’t want to hurt you. He would even fight a lion if he had to protect you!”

“Don’t assume things when you just met him.” Seungkwan pouts.

Sungyeon rolls her eyes. “True. But I spent hours with him, and you. He was paying so much more attention to you than I was!” She blinks exaggeratedly. Seungkwan doesn’t respond. He doesn’t know what to say to that. She was probably seeing things. “Maybe the real closet gay here is you, not him.”

At this point, Seungkwan’s brain is fried. He can’t process any information anymore. “I’m not a closet gay…” he tries to deny. He knows Sungyeon is right but he’s just stubborn like that.

Sometimes he wishes he was different.

But if he was different, Hansol probably would’ve never been his best friend.

Hmmm…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #random


	8. No Internet (Wonwoo)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens when two introverts go on “a date” (actual quote from one of them)? They meet a “creep”, but he's a nice guy though.  
> On a side note, Soonyoung is mad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Wonwoo** , Jihoon, Seungcheol, Soonyoung (mentioned but "appears" at the end)
> 
> How sad, this is kind of a spoiler lmao. But, at least, you can skip or stay if you're interested in what these characters went through. And the "#random" in the previous note is not related with the content of this part, it's... a random coincidence, I guess.   
>  \+ Yes, these are getting lengthier and lengthier. unu That's just how I usually wrote one shots before. :/ I can't help it lol

It’s Saturday and _for once_ , both Wonwoo and Jihoon don’t have anything scheduled today..! This is cool, Wonwoo is happy, he can hang out with Jihoon in peace.

With a genuine and huge smile stuck on his face, he gets up from his bed, stretches and brushes his teeth in the bathroom. He doesn’t even bother shaving because _who cares_ , it’s his face.

Then he goes to Jihoon’s room and it’s empty, but neat. Of course, Jihoon isn’t as slow as him and he doesn’t even know if he just insulted himself or not. He decides that no, he did not, and moves on to the living room. There, Jihoon is at the dining table, enjoying his breakfast while watching TV. It’s an anime they both like. Jihoon certainly picked it because he knows Wonwoo would be happy to watch it with him and the thought of it warms Wonwoo’s heart.

“Jihoon,” he says, calling his friend and roommate who pauses the video to turn to him, his face just as emotionless as usual. “Good morning.” Wonwoo smiles at him.

Jihoon smiles back. “Good morning.” And immediately he turns back to the TV and resumes the episode.

Obviously, the latter wasn’t going to talk much to him, and he doesn’t mind; he’s used to it by now, they’ve been living together for a couple of years now since they went to colleges in the same area, and that’s how everybody knows and likes Jihoon.

How they met is another story, for another time.

Wonwoo makes himself a bowl of cereal then takes a seat in front of Jihoon, kidnapping one of the croissants in the middle of the table wordlessly. Jihoon doesn’t mind. He may be silent most of the time, it doesn’t mean he is mean.

“I love this anime,” Wonwoo says, trying to make a conversation anyway.

Jihoon only nods and says, “I know.”

They aren’t best friends for no reason after all.

“What are you going to do today?” Wonwoo asks before taking a spoon of his cereal.

His friend seems to be thinking about the question even though he does look like he didn’t hear him, but then he answers, “I don’t know. Didn’t really think about it.” He shrugs lightly. “What about you?”

Wonwoo is glad he asked that, because he totally knows what he wants them to do. Hopefully, the latter will agree with him.

He pretends he thinks about the question as well. “Mmh… Do you want to hang out with me today?”

Jihoon freezes, as if he wasn’t already frozen actually, then turns to him and arches an eyebrow. “Depends.”

Wonwoo understands he has to continue. “We could go to a restaurant for lunch then go to the cybercafé.”

The younger male thinks about it, his eyes on the screen although he doesn’t look like he’s actually watching the anime. “So… a date.” Wonwoo is a little taken aback by his words, but doesn’t have time to reply as Jihoon turns to him again. “Sure, why not. It’s been a while since the last time it was just the two of us.” A smile appears on his face, but only for a second.

That was enough to make Wonwoo smile again. “Cool! I had no plan B in case you would say no so… this is convenient.” He chuckles but gets no reaction from Jihoon.

“You could hang out with Soonyoung if I refused. I’m sure he’s not very busy today.” A shrug follows. “This boy is stubborn, he will do his homework tomorrow.”

“Uh… I don’t know.” Wonwoo doesn’t really know what he would do with Soonyoung anyway. Last time, they went shopping together and decided to take a break from buying unnecessary stuff because they’re both kind of broke. “Aren’t you a little hard on him though? We will do our homework tomorrow too.”

“Huh. Yeah, but no. I’m doing my homework tomorrow _and_ today. I’m not _lazy_.” Jihoon sighs.

“Well… Soonyoung is entertaining.” Wonwoo shrugs and Jihoon gently hits his head with the newspaper that was lying on the table next to him. “Hey, there’s no need to be violent already!” And Wonwoo pouts. Yes, Wonwoo pouts. He’s mimicking Soonyoung, actually.

And Jihoon gets it. “Okay, _Soonyoung-wannabe_. Go hang out with your boyfriend already.”

Wonwoo laughs. He’s not even attracted to men and Jihoon knows that. “You wish I was one of his many admirers!”

“You mean Mingyu and Minghao?” Jihoon raises an eyebrow at him, who nods at his question. “Pfeh, these two are lost cases. Nobody can save them at this point and I can’t even understand how Soonyoung hasn’t noticed anything, yet we barely spent any time with them.” He desperately shakes his head.

Even if Jihoon acts like he doesn’t care, he does keep an eye on everything so it’s hard to fool him.

The tallest smiles. “Soonyoung is an idiot. But we love him like that.”

The other sighs. “Yeah, we do.” He then proceeds to stop the video and turns the TV off. “However, thanks to you, I haven’t been focused on this episode for the past ten minutes. Thank you very much.”

“So you don’t love me anymore?” Wonwoo jokes. An attempt.

“No.”

“So you loved me before?”

Of course, Jihoon only looks irritated, and leaves right after.

Wonwoo doesn’t insist and empties his bowl.

 

At noon, two things happen simultaneously: the two friends spot the place they will eat at, and Jihoon’s stomach growls.

He immediately blushes and covers his stomach with his forearms.

Wonwoo doesn’t say anything but thinks Jihoon looks cute sometimes, like now. He’s like a child, how funny.

Then they enter the restaurant, take a table and place their order.

“Mingyu’s birthday is soon,” Jihoon says, in the middle of eating. He wipes his mouth with a tissue. “He will certainly hold a party so… will you go?”

Wonwoo first swallows his food before he can answer his friend. “Hashtag random.” Jihoon squints his eyes. If he could hit him right now, he probably would. “Answering your _random_ question…” He shrugs and Jihoon squints even more. “I don’t know. But if you go, I guess I’ll go too.”

“Oh. I was thinking just the same,” he replies. “That if you went, I’d go too,” he clarifies and takes a sip. “Guess we won’t go if he doesn’t invite us, but if he does, we could go and keep an eye on Soonyoung.”

At that, Wonwoo can’t help but laugh. “So you just want to be Soonyoung’s bodyguard after all? I don’t think you’re tough enough for that.”

Jihoon rolls his eyes. “It’s not like we’re Mingyu’s friends… We only know him through Soonyoung so it makes sense that we would focus on our actual friend more than the birthday boy,” he states.

“Kind of unfair for Mingyu.” Wonwoo shrugs.

“It’s fine, he’d get a present and a ‘happy birthday’ from us, that would be enough. Besides, I know we both don’t like parties.”

True. They’re two introverts who happen to enjoy being alone with their passions. And making fun of other people, such as Soonyoung.

Teasing him ~~with love~~ is the best.

Wonwoo shrugs again.

 

When they’re done eating and walking around a little bit, Wonwoo and Jihoon head for the cybercafé Wonwoo likes.

Why this one in particular? Because it has comfy chairs, the decoration is alright, the temperature is always nice, there’s kind of privacy going on as all monitors are separated by a thick and almost opaque blue-ish glass, people can borrow gamepads if they want to, and it’s nearby!! In other words: perfect.

“I can’t even remember when was the last time I stepped inside…” Jihoon says, a hand in front of his mouth as if he was trying to remember it.

“It’s been a while for me too but not worse than you.”

“It’s _your_ playground, not mine,” Jihoon frowns and Wonwoo chuckles.

They enter the place and the taller male already makes himself comfy by removing his scarf while Jihoon scans the whole area.

“It barely changed,” he remarks. “It’s very full of people too.”

Wonwoo moves a little and sighs. “Yeah… I wonder if there’s any seat for us.”

“I’m not sharing a small chair with you.”

A small laugh escapes from Wonwoo. He’s imagining how it would look like from an external point of view, a little Jihoon squeezed in one of those chairs with a taller Wonwoo. Maybe that wouldn’t be possible after all, they’re not cartoon characters.

“Let me guess…” Jihoon stares at him while ‘thinking’ loudly. “You’re imagining me on your lap in one of these chairs.”

Wonwoo looks back at him and his own face must be epic to see since Jihoon is holding back a laugh. “Nope.”

“Close enough.” Jihoon rolls his eyes. “Anyway, I found some seats for us.” He tugs at Wonwoo’s sleeve before climbing down the few stairs there are. The other follows until they find the chairs Jihoon was talking about.

Indeed, these are two free chairs next to one another. However, one of the computers isn’t turned on; the monitor is off, the computer itself is off. There’s no light at all. They couldn’t see that from the entrance.

Jihoon sits in front of it then turns to his friend. “What are you waiting for?”

Wonwoo is reminded of an old, _old_ gaming ad, but decides not to say anything and sits on the other chair.

In front of him, there’s a functional computer that’s actually turned on. He grabs the mouse and looks at what games could be there.

“Aren’t you getting bored? I mean…” Wonwoo pauses and turns his head to look at Jihoon who’s watching him. “You won’t be doing anything…”

Jihoon blinks, then shrugs. “It’s fine, I agreed to hang out with you here today so I’m staying. Besides, I can play on my phone if I don’t want to watch you play…”

Wonwoo smiles slightly. “Okay.” And he goes back to looking at what there is until he launches one of them. The launcher appears and he waits.

To be frank, he feels bad for taking Jihoon here to do nothing when he could be having much more fun on his own at home… Jihoon is awesome. Wonwoo almost wants to hug him.

It loads and loads… then a tiny error window appears. “…Oh.” That’s Wonwoo’s reaction.

His eyes move to the taskbar and… wow, no Internet?? He clicks on the icon which opens a small window that’s supposed to show what the device can connect to but… “There’s nothing,” Jihoon says.

It’s supposed to be connected with a cable… although wifi should be available as well… what happened?

“It’s Windows, dude.”

Wonwoo frowns. “No. Windows can be garbage sometimes but it’s _the_ OS to have when it comes to gaming.” He shakes his head, Jihoon shrugs. “Can you take a look at yours?”

Without a word, Jihoon takes the piece of paper that looks like it fell from the screen. It’s yellow and it reads “ _Out of Service”_.

“…Great.” Sighs. “What can we do…?”

“Ask for help, I guess.”

They look around, Wonwoo suddenly feels shy. “Meh… … We can always play a local card game instead–”

“No thanks.”

They wait a few more minutes, until the guy sitting next to Wonwoo turns to them and removes his headphones. “Hey, you need help?” He smiles at them. Wonwoo hears Jihoon shuffle in his chair.

“Hey. Uh…” he starts. “Y–yeah, this computer has no access to Internet…” he adds as he points to the computer in front of him.

The guy seems to think about it. “Oh, yeah, there’s a problem with this row so all computers have to connect to the wifi here.” He moves his finger, pointing at all the row. “Guess the guy before you messed up with this one, hold on.” He takes the mouse from Wonwoo and after a few clicks, he uninstalls the network drivers, and reboots the computer while the two friends are confused. “Don’t worry, it’s not broken, the drivers will be installed again automatically and to my defense,” he lifts his arms, “my cousin works here!”

Jihoon taps on Wonwoo’s arm and the latter tilts his body towards the former who whispers in his ear. “He just did a monologue. I don’t like the way he looks at me.” Then they go back to their previous positions.

Was he implying that the dude is flirting with Jihoon… with his eyes? Whatever he meant, he doesn’t trust him so Wonwoo feels like he shouldn’t either, but they just met and barely anything happened. The guy is nice so far, he helped Wonwoo.

“Oh, excuse-me, I forgot good manners.” He extends his hand towards them, a big smile on his lips. “Name’s Seungcheol, nice to meet you.”

Wonwoo hesitates but shakes his hand anyway. “Likewise, Seungcheol. I’m Wonwoo, and um…” He turns his head, unsure if he should introduce his friend as well since they’re obviously together.

“Jihoon,” his friend says, introducing himself.

No lie then? He could lie to protect himself if he didn’t trust this Seungcheol.

Seungcheol keeps smiling, bows his head then looks at the computer and it’s connected to the wifi now. “See, I fixed the problem.”

“Thanks,” Wonwoo bows his head.

“It’s nothing, but you’re welcome,” he grins. “So, what did you want to play? We could play together, if you don’t mind of course.”

They end up playing together for a while, while Jihoon cheers for Wonwoo and helps him sometimes, his phone in his hand as a distraction when he doesn’t want to help anymore.

 

It’s almost sunset when the three of them come out of the place. “It was fun, thanks for playing with me. I felt a little lonely before.” Seungcheol laughs.

Wonwoo smiles. It was nice after all. “No problem.”

“Do you live far? I can accompany you if that doesn’t bother you.”

Seungcheol would go as far as to walk with them to their home? Wonwoo shakes his head. “No, we’re pretty close actually.”

“Oh, that’s nice.”

“If that’s okay with you, we’d like some privacy.” Jihoon approaches Wonwoo and takes his hand.

Seungcheol looks like he’s taken aback. “Oh. You live together…?”

“Of course we do,” Jihoon responds, as if it was obvious. They both know there are couples that wish they could live together but they can’t… Wait, is Jihoon really implying that he and Wonwoo are dating!?

As if he heard the question from Wonwoo’s head, Jihoon clings a little more to him and forces him to walk.

“Goodbye,” he says. Wonwoo awkwardly waves by at Seungcheol who stares and is in confusion, certainly.

“Bye.”

 

Later, when they reach the comfiness of their place, Wonwoo makes a face and Jihoon sighs. “Listen, that Seungcheol guy– I don’t trust him. He kept looking at me from time to time as if I was his friend!” He does not look happy at all.

“Maybe he wanted you to have fun as well,” Wonwoo replies.

But Jihoon is not fully convinced. “Yeah, he wanted me to have fun… with him! You can’t imagine, he was like looking at me like… like he was romantically interested by me, a complete stranger!”

“And that’s why you kept being close to me?”

Jihoon sighs, looking down. “I–I know I should’ve asked you if you were okay with that first. I’m sorry. I wanted him to think that I was out of his reach, that he could stop looking at me like that… and you’re my best friend, best friends should protect each other.”

He looks hurt.

So… he did feel like he was in danger with Seungcheol around. Wonwoo wouldn’t hesitate to protect Jihoon from him if he had to. Even though Seungcheol appeared to be a nice guy. …Hah, a _Nice Guy_.

Without any hesitation, Wonwoo hugs him.

“It’s fine, you did what you had to. And you’re right, best friends should protect each other so I won’t hesitate if something happens.”

“Thanks. I hope we won’t see him again…”

Jihoon hugs him back, then the phone rings.

They let go of each other and Jihoon is faster than him to answer the phone.

“It’s Soonyoung,” he says and puts it on speaker. “Hi.”

“GUYYYS!!” Of course Soonyoung has to yell. “I CALLED EARLIER BUT YOU DIDN’T PICK UP.”

“You called on this phone?” Wonwoo asks and Soonyoung agrees. “Then why didn’t you call on our cellphones?”

“You forgot!? You blocked me!!! Both of you,TRAITORS!!!!”

Jihoon and Wonwoo exchange a look. “…Oh, right. I totally forgot about that prank,” Wonwoo laughs, making Jihoon grin slightly. “Sorry, we forgot to unblock you!”

“I hate you Jeon Wonwoo and Lee Jihoon!!!” Soonyoung groans. Wonwoo would love to see the face he’s making right now, it must be great to expose it in the corridor. “I felt forced to do my homework so it’s all done now! I was so bored, and I hate you so much! Our friendship is over!!” Annnd he hung up.

Jihoon laughs as he leaves the phone where it should be.

They know Soonyoung isn’t being serious, and, honestly, they’re grateful he made that call; he erased every single stain of negativity that was floating all around them, and thus without even knowing what happened.

That’s why they love him and treasure his cute little face in their hearts.

 

They wash themselves one after another and while Jihoon is doing his homework in his room, Wonwoo unblocks Soonyoung on his phone from both the system and KakaoTalk, and texts him on KakaoTalk. “ _Love you ♡_ ” his message says.

It takes a few seconds for the 1 to disappear from his screen. A sticker then appears. It’s a disappointed hamster.

Wonwoo giggles and wishes him a good night before turning the screen off and tries to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, if everything goes as planned, next time I update there will be more new characters, not just one, but two. :3
> 
>  
> 
>    
> And I swear, Seungcheol is not a bad guy, Jihoon was seeing things. uu


	9. TMI (Soonyoung)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Boredom is boring.  
> Nobody can spend the day with Soonyoung so he hangs out with himself.  
> He encounters a new café, gets curious and ends up adopted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Soonyoung** , Jeonghan, Jisoo, Chan (appears at the end)

Soonyoung does a stretch.

Far up towards the ceiling, then relaxed on his thighs.

“Soonyoungie is ready to go~” he says with a very cute voice, an _aegyo_.

But then he remembers nobody’s here to listen to him.

“Ah, true, Soonyoungie doesn’t have any friend.” He pouts.

Jeon Wonwoo? Trash.

Lee Jihoon? Also trash– no, wait, he’s a trash bag, so he can welcome the trash and they fit together and…… no, this is just plain gross. Trash two.

He could text Mingyu or Minghao but doesn’t really want to. They’re both a little… well… special. Soonyoung feels weird whenever he's with them even though they're both good friends and he likes them equally.

He can’t hang out with Chan without Mingyu knowing and tagging along so… no.

What about Hansol? If only Hansol wasn’t busy today!!

So, Soonyoung is all by himself today. He’s the only one living under this roof, because his family is far and he wanted to do studies here. He gets help from them and has a part-time job but there’s nothing to do today.

Homework will wait. First, Soonyoung wants to explore the area once more and walk and make himself a little more broke. Because he can’t help it.

 

Once outside in a very comfortable outfit, he walks and walks and… walks. With his small eyes, he looks at everything, and some people certainly thinks he is a weirdo, but Soonyoung doesn’t care.

Additionally, he hums to the songs he’s listening to with his earbuds, mainly _SHINee_ , of course, who can top their songs?

Even though he’s already listening to music with a moderate volume, another tune attracts his attention.

He looks for the source and– it’s a new café. Soonyoung is very sure this wasn’t here before, it used to be a tiny restaurant but guess they went bankrupt–

Why is it called ‘TMI’ though? Soonyoung wonders… Very odd name. It looks like it’s missing some letters but who knows? It's brand new, this can’t be breaking already–

And how is he so sure that they do serve coffee in there? Easy. There’s a logo of a cup of coffee next to the name and the wall is all brown, a warm one.

Anyway, he looks left, then right, then left again and crosses the road. It’s not very busy so he reaches the other side quite easily and enters the café with his earbuds in his pocket.

The sound of the guitar is—obviously—much clearer now and very nice. The man playing it is talented and damn handsome. Please, he can sing and his voice is _so_ nice!

The place looks very beige and a warm brown that matches the outside. The floor is made out of parquet, very pleasant to see here.

There’s also a pleasant smell surrounding everything, it’s just– coffee. But it’s sweet.

“Welcome!” says the man behind the counter. He’s also handsome and his voice sounds like one an angel would have, Soonyoung thinks.

With everything he observed so far, he wondered why there’s only one customer here besides himself.

“Hello,” he responds shyly, approaching the counter. He feels ugly when he looks at these two men. He… he doesn’t have bulging eyes and… he’s chubby.

“Would you like a coffee?” The barista smiles warmly and Soonyoung almost feels like this could be his third home. Third since he already has his place and his parents’. Oh wait, there’s his sister's too… maybe fourth then.

“Uhh…” Soonyoung hesitates. He looks behind the man where the prices are displayed, but the other's face gets in the way.

“Don't worry about these, the first one is free, made with love just for you,” he says, still smiling. “New customers get a gift from us as a warm welcome. We’re very proud of what we do and hope you'll enjoy it as much as us.”

The guitar stops. Footsteps replace the music and the other man joins them, smiling and standing right next to Soonyoung. “Welcome, I, too, hope that you will fall in love with your first coffee. He’s not joking when he says they're made with love, right?” The guitarist looks at the barista and the way they look and smile at each other makes Soonyoung uncomfortable. It’s like they’re a married couple and he's an intruder. And the other customer is a decoration.

“That is absolutely true,” the other nods, proudly. He started making the coffee even though Soonyoung didn’t even say anything. He really only said ‘Hello’ so far, these two are making the conversation for him. “By the way, I’m Jeonghan. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” the barista, _Jeonghan_ , adds, bowing quickly while still making the coffee.

“And I, Jisoo, it’s nice meeting you,” the guitarist says, bowing as well.

Soonyoung stares. What a twist, his day was going to be so boring but now… he just met two new faces, Jeonghan and Jisoo. Wow. “N–nice to meet you too! My name is Soonyoung,” he smiles back and bows too.

“Well, Soonyoung, make yourself at home and take a seat,” Jisoo points at the chairs in front of the counter before taking a seat himself. He’s still carrying his guitar, by the way.

Soonyoung is so shy, he's not entirely sure why. He nods and obeys, taking a seat as well.

Jisoo widens his smile and starts playing another music.

Here's the real question: are they the only employees here?? It could be possible when we see the size of the place and how… busy it’s not.

But what if suddenly, there’s a lot of people and both of them end up busy taking care of their orders? Can Jisoo still play the guitar? Will there be no pleasant music to listen to?

Soonyoung is curious. “I like your guitar. It's nice.”

…

Not really what he wanted to say.

Jisoo doesn't look offended at all. He's even smiling shyly now. “Thanks,” he says. “I love playing music with it.”

Soonyoung smiles even though no one is looking back at him. “You’re very good at this. It compliments this place so much.”

Jisoo blushes slightly. “Thank you Soonyoung.” He stops playing and lifts his head, curiosity written all over his face. “Do you play an instrument too?”

Soonyoung shakes his head. He wanted to learn how to play the drums when he was a child but his parents never let him. “I wish though.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. I hope you do learn how to play one then.” Jisoo smiles again and _damn he’s so nice!_

“Hey, if you could learn how to play an acoustic guitar, we could hire you when the place will get busier,” Jeonghan says. “There are speakers in some of the corners but it all truly feels cosy thanks to the guitar, right?”

Soonyoung nods. But they can’t hire someone who can’t play an instrument and make them a distribute the cups? Jisoo is too good at this, Soonyoung feels like he can’t be better than him in this field. Doesn’t he get tired after playing for hours though?

“Here’s your coffee by the way.” Jeonghan places the cup of coffee in front of Soonyoung, on the counter, and it smells good. Only by the looks and the smell of it, anybody can tell it’s not cheap coffee.

“Thank you.” Soonyoung takes it and he’s progressively getting more and more nervous now that both Jisoo and Jeonghan are staring at him, and they’re not even hiding anything. What if he doesn’t like their coffee after all?

He looks at the inside of the cup instead of focusing on them, and takes a sip.

Verdict? Wow. It’s great.

A faint blush appears on his cheeks and ears as he gulps a little more of this coffee.

“Ah~ I see.” Jeonghan smiles even more than before, certainly very proud of himself. “I’m glad you’re liking it, this moment deserves a celebration, doesn’t it?” He turns towards Jisoo who smiles back at him.

“Absolutely.” And he plays another song.

How many can he play!?

Soonyoung stares but doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t know what to say, they’re still making the conversation for him and saying what he wants to say– are they magicians!?

“Soonyoung?” Jeonghan calls him and Soonyoung flinches.

“Y–yes??” he responds.

With a hand over his mouth, Jeonghan lets out a laugh.

They then get interrupted as the other man walks up to the counter thanks him for the coffee, and he leaves, leaving the three of them all by themselves in the empty place. How sad.

Why didn’t they talk to the man like they’re doing now with him? Maybe he didn’t want to talk and let them know.

“So, Soonyoung,” Jeonghan starts again, smiling softly. “What brought you here?”

Soonyoung blinks and answers honestly, “Curiosity brought me here.”

Jeonghan looks a bit surprised but doesn’t stop smiling. He even moves closer to Soonyoung by resting his elbows on the counter, his hands cupping his own face. “You make me love curious people, you know?”

Soonyoung gulps without meaning to and it makes the two other men chuckle. He knows they don’t mean any harm, they’re just amused.

Jisoo motions for Jeonghan to play music with the speakers, which Jeonghan does, so Jisoo can stop playing for nobody and join the conversation. Jeonghan also takes the opportunity to move to the other side of the counter.

 

It turns out both of them are very nice, and very touchy between each other which made Soonyoung a bit uncomfortable sometimes but he guesses that’s normal between two very close friends… or a couple, he’s still not sure. They don’t look like they’re dating yet it feels like it, how weird?? They even have little nicknames for each other and tried to adopt him! … * _Jeonghan_ tried to adopt him, Jisoo didn’t stop him.

Still they’re friendly and they decided to become friends, exchanging phone numbers already before Soonyoung left them. He just thought, why not?

They told him why they decided to open a café together, and that’s because they met through coffee and they fell in love—Soonyoung is not sure what to think of it, did they fall in love with coffee or with each other?? Why is their relationship or whatever so blurry?????

Oh and Soonyoung has a preference. Jisoo is nicer.

Sorry Jeonghan.

 

Days later, Soonyoung manages to hang out with Chan _alone_ and when Chan says he’s thirsty, Soonyoung takes him to TMI. Because of course he would. It’s _free_ coffee for newcomers!!

For your information, they said TMI stood for ‘The Meilleur Ideal’ although it… sounds very weird. Soonyoung wonders if they were just making that up.

After all, Jeonghan did start to say that ‘ _Too Much_ ’-something was rejected so…

Well, this time, Jeonghan wants to adopt Chan too and they become his ‘sons’ against their will—Chan protests but Jeonghan doesn’t listen. Jisoo also becomes their second father against his will.

Oh, Mingyu will be happy to hear that.

Because of course Chan will tell him.

Or… that’s what Soonyoung believes.


	10. Shameless (Seungkwan)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seungkwan and Mingyu are on a bench. One of Mingyu's classmates ~~intrudes~~ joins them.  
> Plot twist, Hansol surprises Seungkwan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Seungkwan** , Mingyu, Seokmin, Hansol, Sofia  
> → translation

“Yeah and you see, it’s not happy times lately,” Mingyu sighs.

Seungkwan looks at him with compassion and gently puts his hand on his shoulder. “It reminds me that I wanted to tell you something a while ago,” he says. His words attract Mingyu’s attention, who looks at him curiously.

The two friends are in a park near their university because the weather is ideal for staying outside and they wanted to spend some time together, then Seungkwan wanted to confide in his friend. That’s why they are currently sitting on a bench talking about this and that, until now.

“Well… there’s someone I’ve liked, for a few years, and even though I can say we’re pretty close today…” He sighs, then continues, putting both hands on Mingyu’s shoulders, as if that was going to help him understand what he’s saying better. “I am in love with this person but I’m not brave enough to tell them!! I’m scared this might ruin everything and maybe I wouldn’t be able to see them again… so… I don’t know…”

Seungkwan gradually lowers his head and, at the same time, releases Mingyu, his hands falling down his arms.

His friend looks at him, looking for a clue on his face, then takes his hands when they reach his.

Smiling, he answers, “Listen, I don’t know who it might be but I’m glad you decided to talk about it to me and I–”

“Heart problems?! There’s no need to look so sad because of that, come on!”

Surprised, the two boys turn to the stranger who had just interrupted them and– “Seokmin! Don’t do that, you will make people run away!” Mingyu scolds him.

Seokmin laughs and rubs the back of his head. “Sorry! You know I don’t like seeing sad people– I couldn’t help it!”

Seungkwan is confused. This _Seokmin_ guy is smiling so much and is very strange... and Mingyu and him know each other??

As if he had heard his question, Mingyu turns to him. “He’s one of my classmates.” The two boys then introduce themselves to each other, then Seokmin sits next to Mingyu.

“So, you love someone but you can’t tell them about it? Did you try to make them understand by dropping some hints?” Seokmin continues. It doesn’t seem like intruding their conversation is bothering him, and he didn’t notice that Seungkwan is not quite at ease.

“I… I can not…” he replies, playing with his fingers.

And of _fucking course_ , Hansol passes by, accompanied by his little sister and a puppy. _Great_ , Seungkwan officially doesn’t feel good. “Hey Boo!” Hansol waves his hand in front of him, then looks at the others. “Hi Mingyu! and… uh…”

“Seokmin!” Seokmin happily says. “Nice to meet you!”

Hansol respectfully bows his head. “Nice to meet you too, I’m Hansol.”

And, of course, Seokmin couldn’t keep everything to himself, he _had_ to _spill_. “Oh, my flair tells me you’re very good friends with Seungkwan here.” Hansol nods, confused, while Seungkwan is already cursing that newcomer, but Seokmin is talking too fast to be stopped and if Seungkwan tries to stop him in the middle of the sentence anyway, it would be very suspicious! “Did you know that he loves someone but doesn’t dare to tell that person?”

That’s it, Seungkwan is dying slowly. …Well, now that Hansol knows that, that he looks slightly surprised by Seokmin’s words, and that he looks at him with his eyes that are so soft……… maybe it’s not the worst death there is after all. Maybe Hansol is not smart enough to understand that the person he loves is actually him! But Seungkwan knows him. He is smart. Even if he is awkward, which is sooooo adorable, and _oh_ he wants to pinch his cheeks.

As for Mingyu, he sighs, embarrassed and ashamed to be friends with Seokmin, a hand pressed against his own face. And Sofia, Hansol’s sister, distracts herself by playing with the puppy.

Hansol finally answers Seokmin, a small smile on his lips. “Yes, I knew.” Then he takes the puppy’s leash from his sister’s hands. “Well I have to go. See you.” After waving his hand, Hansol has left, leaving the three boys alone on the bench.

Seungkwan doesn’t know what he’s supposed to understand out of all of this. His own face became pale.

What did he mean by ‘ _yes I knew_ ’?! That he is aware of his feelings towards him…?

Seungkwan does not feel good.

He gets up, stays on his feet for a few seconds, Mingyu and Seokmin watch him, then sits down and hides his face in his hands before shouting, a cry muffled by his hands.

Mingyu and Seokmin look at each other, then turn their attention back to him.

“S-Seungkwan?? Are you alright???” Mingyu asks, clearly worried.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that!” Seokmin apologies and begs him to forgive him, on his knees.

Seungkwan isn’t sure he will forgive him anytime soon.

 

 

 

 

 

————————————

Hansol 💞

————————————

Hey Boo (:

————

Seungkwaaaannn~~!

————

🍊

————

Seungkwannie? ):

————

I miss you…

————————————

 


	11. Nonsense (Jihoon)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jihoon is chilling outside when someone jumps on him.  
> Guess who's getting adopted?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Jihoon** , Chan, Jeonghan

The sky is grey. There’s a few sunrays managing to go through the clouds but that’s it. Still Lee Jihoon thought it was a good idea to refresh his little head after reading that book with intensity.

It was Wonwoo who recommended it to him after he asked him what he was reading, so he simply borrowed it from him.

Jihoon could see what it was from afar though; a book about _homosexuality_.

Well, fiction in this case. He wanted to know what was said in it, because it wasn’t just anybody who was reading it: it was _Wonwoo_. Because, yes, as cliché as it may sound, Jihoon likes Wonwoo.

Of course, Jihoon knows, _knows_ that someone in love with their best friend is a popular plot in romance books. Because it also happens in real life. When you’re so close and you feel a connection, it’s hard not to trip over and start to feel even more, such as pain for not being able to tell that person.

Here’s the problem: Jihoon is bisexual, nothing odd, he had a girlfriend in the past but things didn’t work out, Wonwoo knows, and Wonwoo is straight.

Jihoon cannot date Wonwoo because Wonwoo is _not_ attract by _men_ , and Jihoon is a man.

Without realizing it, he sighs and collides with someone.

“Ow–” he hears the other person say.

He recognizes that voice.

He lifts his head to check and he wasn’t wrong.

“Oh, Soonyoung’s protégé…” Jihoon mutters.

The other male scoffs. “At the very least, you can say sorry.” Then looks up and smiles, but it’s not the happy kind of smile. “It’s harder to see you seeing how tall you are, Jihoon.”

Jihoon closes his fist and tries to hold it. “I bet Soonyoung would love to know how his baby is behaving when he’s not around.”

His opponent grits his teeth. Why is he so mad? It’s not like Jihoon spit on him. “Yeah, and you blocked him, is it any better?”

“I see the news got around very fast.” Jihoon crosses his arms. “He’s already unblocked and we’re on good terms, alright? Stop assuming how our relationship is doing.”

And it goes on, until Chan’s hands are gripping on Jihoon’s collar.

Usually, Chan isn’t this aggressive– what happened?? Did he drink too much or…????

Jihoon is very puzzled, to say the least.

“Stop it, you’re wasting your time–” he tries to convince him.

“You don’t scare me!”

Why is there so much rage in his eyes???

Jihoon tries to stop him by putting his hands on his biceps. Maybe spending hours at the gym for a month will pay off– he hopes so. He doesn’t want to hurt Chan nor does he want Chan to hurt him.

This is totally nonsense.

“What’s up with you? Want me to call Mingyu so he can pick you up??”

Seems like those words made Chan even angrier. Now his grip is stronger and it’s starting to hurt.

“Mingyu _this_ , Mingyu _that_ , I’m _tired_ okay!” He groans.

Jihoon is sure his own face is turning paler than it already was. Did he and Mingyu get into an argument? Is this why he’s _so_ irritated now?

As if on cue, another voice joins them and Jihoon hopes this person is going to save him. “Hey, you two! Stop right now!!!” Footsteps are then heard and they’re getting louder and louder. Chan’s grip loosens but Jihoon’s hands are still pushing his arms away. “Chan!”

So this person knows Chan.

“Hi, Jeonghan,” Chan says, but he doesn’t look happy nor angry. Like he’s emotionless now.

He finally let go of Jihoon.

While they’re talking, Jihoon tries to come up with something to save himself because he’s the unknown face to them, Chan could try to make him guilty despite being innocent in all this nonsense.

“What happened? I saw you fight from the café so I had to leave Jisoo to check on you!” This Jeonghan man sounds very worried.

_Think Jihoon, think!_

“Well, this guy right here bumped into me and didn’t say sorry!”

Jihoon remembers all the times people told him he was cute… So maybe his face will save him.

“What? And he jumped on you when you yelled at him?” Jeonghan sounds very surprised now.

“Pretty much.” Chan shrugs.

With a shocked face, Jeonghan, maybe about to scold Jihoon, turns to the latter and… Jihoon is pouting and trying his best to show the cutest face he can without looking too cringy. He hates doing that, _aegyo_ , but if it means saving his own ass…

“Holy…” Jeonghan starts saying, speechless. “Is this… Is this my lost son!?”

Chan’s face is epic. “WHAT?!” he shouts but Jeonghan doesn’t pay him any attention and approaches Jihoon who’s starting to be a little scared of what he might be thinking of. ‘ _lost son_ ’?? What the hell?

He wants to say something but Jeonghan is too fast for him. “Oh my, yes, I’m Yoon Jeonghan, your father~! What’s your little name?”

...Is– is he adopting him!? Is this worse than getting scolded? Jihoon can’t tell.

“Don’t you have enough kids?!?” Chan continues.

Jeonghan’s finger immediately moves to Chan’s lips. “Shhh. Be nice to your brother.” Chan stares, baffled. Jihoon is sure they both have the same face. “So, what’s your name?”

Jihoon gulps and thinks. Should he tell him? … Jeonghan doesn’t look like a madman so… it should be safe.

_Should._

“Jihoon.”

It’s not like he’s giving him a choice anyway.

“Alright, Jihoonie,” Jeonghan grins. Jihoon feels like he’s going to throw up just from hearing what he just said. This man is fearless. “I hope you won’t cause any more trouble to Chan, you’re brothers after all.” Chan frowns and squints. At least, Jihoon is glad they both agree this Jeonghan is crazy. “Oh, and you should meet your other brother, Soonyoung!”

“They already know each other…” Chan rolls his eyes.

“My my, that’s a wonderful news!” Jeonghan is beaming, literally. “Then there’s only your other father left!”

 _Soonyoung as a brother, and having another father……_ Jihoon feels sick. He’s an only child, he doesn’t know what having siblings is like.

Being forced is definitely _not_ good.

“Fuck this.” Jihoon mutters before he turns and starts to go home without saying goodbye. He didn’t sign up for this.

“Watch your language, son!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, for some reasons, I really wanted a fight between them but it... turned out not good so... lol :D


	12. New faces (Minghao)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minghao visits Soonyoung at his part-time job, hoping he would spend the whole time with him, but it's not quite what he was expecting...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Minghao** , Soonyoung, Jisoo, Jeonghan, Junhui
> 
> Hoh, I am slightly late– I still wanted to update ><

It’s with confidence that Xu Minghao steps into Poudre de Perlimpinpin, a bar with a good reputation, not the best, but certainly not the worst; it’s above average for sure.

This bar is not the nearest to his place, but the reason why he’d go to this one in particular is very simple…

“Oh, hey Minghao!” a cheerful voice greets him.

It’s none other than the one and only Kwon Soonyoung standing behind that counter, wearing this tight and neat outfit which makes him look like a gentleman– _without saying he’s not one_.

Minghao is not going to lie; he enjoys the view everytime he comes here.

Obviously, Soonyoung is not the only bartender here, Minghao simply knows his schedule. Whether this is creepy or not, he doesn’t question it.

“Hi Soonyoung,” Minghao greets him back as he takes a seat. “The same as usual, please.”

Minghao always asks for the same drink, one he and Soonyoung both like. Of course, it’s because it’s nice and tasty, and he doesn’t come here for the drinks anyway.

Soonyoung nods at him, takes a glass and once it’s filled, he hands it to his friend, a big smile on his face. He’s trained to always smile here but Minghao likes to think he’s happy to see him and _of course he does_ , they’re friends after all.

“Here’s for you~” he grins. “How are you by the way? How is your day so far?”

“Thanks,” Minghao replies with a seductive smile, or… what he considers _seductive_. He takes a sip, then continues, “Well… I’m pretty exhausted. Still preparing for the exhibition and it makes me more and more nervous each day.”

“Aw… I see,” says Soonyoung as he crosses his arms on the counter, resting his chin on them with a slight pout on his lips. That is _fucking_ cute and Minghao’s sure by now that he doesn’t even do that on purpose. It just makes him even more charming than he already is. “I hope it’ll go well and I can’t wait to see the results! Fighting!” He’s back to smiling and takes Minghao’s hand in his as to pretend he was sending energy like that.

Minghao can’t help a huge smile from appearing on his own face, all because he just loves Soonyoung too much– _who_ can resist him!? It’s impossible, he’s too perfect!

“Thank you~! I’ll tell you when D-day will be,” he says, bowing after leaving his glass in front of him so he can put his hand on his chest. He wants to show how sincere and grateful he is.

Suddenly, an unknown voice rings in his ears, right next to him. “Good evening, Soonyoung,” the man says. “It’s surprising to see you here, I came here once before and you weren’t working here!”

Minghao turns to look at him and– who is that? How dare he talk to Soonyoung like that??

But then, Soonyoung is all smiles to this man. “Good evening, Jisoo!” He giggles. “I’m equally as surprised to see you here! and yeah, I work here only during specific days because… you know, school.” He shrugs.

“Oh, I see I see,” _Jisoo_ nods, smiling back. “It’s nice to see you either way.”

“Same~!”

Minghao looks at them, back and forth, then asks, “You… you know each other?”

Soonyoung nods at him. “Yes, we’re friends. … Oh sorry, I forgot to introduce you– Minghao, this is Jisoo, and Jisoo, this is Minghao.”

Minghao and Jisoo bow their head at each other and shake hands. “Nice to meet you, Jisoo,” Minghao says.

“Nice to meet you too, Minghao,” Jisoo responds. “If you don’t mind me asking; are you a foreigner?”

Minghao blinks. “Uh… yes, I’m Chinese.” He nods.

The other seems to be amazed at what he just told him. “Oh, I would love to go visit China someday. I’m also a foreigner, I wasn’t going to stay here but I met someone in a café and I changed my mind.” The Chinese male nods at his words. “What about you?”

Minghao thinks about it. He bites his lip, looks down, then taps on the counter. “Wait, aren’t you thirsty? You should order something to drink,” he says, because he doesn’t want Soonyoung to listen to them, to what he has to say.

Surprised, Jisoo agrees with him and while Soonyoung prepares the drink, Minghao continues.

“At first, I was an exchange student, but then I met some people and I fell in love with the country… so…” he blushes as he remembers what happened, taking a glance at Soonyoung. “I called my parents and told them I wanted to stay here. It was hard for them to approve it because I’m their only child, but I told them about… about what I wanted to do here and after a while, they gave me the green light.”

Jisoo looks like he’s submerged by feels but before he can say anything, Soonyoung interrupts, handing him his glass. “Here’s for you!” He grins and turns to Minghao. “I’m still waiting for the day I’ll get to meet your amazing parents,” he chuckles. _Not yet_ , Minghao thinks, not when they’re still at this stage where Mingyu thinks he has a chance too. “Say, you didn’t come with Jeonghan?”

Who’s Jeonghan????

Jisoo laughs softly. “I did come with Jeonghan. He’s in the restroom right now, he’ll join whenever he’ll come out of there.”

With a nod, Soonyoung leaves them alone so he can take care of other people in need of a drink. Minghao is thankful the bouncers here are reactive enough to protect him from drunk assholes, otherwise he’d convince him to find another part-time job where he would be safer. Life is hard when you have a cute face.

Anyway, Jisoo continues, “Like he said, your parents are great for letting you follow your dreams instead of keeping you near them at all time.” He smiles softly at him, then whispers. “If I understood it well, you stayed because of Soonyoung, right?”

Minghao nearly chokes on air. He then clears his throat. “He’s one of the reasons. I didn’t lie when I said I fell in love with this country.”

“Awww how cute!” Jisoo coos.

“What’s cute??” another voice asks. Minghao looks at him with confusion, the other looks back at him with the same face, he thinks. Is this Jeonghan?

“Oh, there you are, Hannie,” Jisoo smiles even more than before and his eyes are screaming affection. There’s no way that guy is not Jeonghan and Jisoo totally adores him. Does Minghao also look like that when he looks at Soonyoung?? Wow, _cringe_.

“Yup,” his friend says as if he was proud of himself for showing up now. “And, who might this young man be?”

“He’s Minghao, friend of Soonyoung,” Jisoo says, introducing him. Minghao simply smiles awkwardly.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Minghao, name’s Jeonghan!” Jeonghan grins and holds out his hand.

Mildly amused, Minghao looks at his face, then his hand, then his face. “The pleasure is mine. I sure hope you carefully washed your hands before offering one of them to me,” he says with a smile and shakes his hand.

It makes Jeonghan laugh. “Don’t worry about that.” He winks at Minghao then turns to Jisoo and they start whispering to each other.

Turning his head, Minghao decides not to try to eavesdrop on them. If it’s none of his business, then he won’t pay attention to them.

He keeps drinking his wine, slowly, when a guy sits next to him, and is facing him as well, of course. Minghao mentally sighs, thinking that all he wanted was to be with Soonyoung but instead, he gets to talk to unknown faces more than with his crush.

“Someone cute like yourself shouldn’t stay on his own, you know,” the guy says.

 _Great_ , a random dude is flirting with him.

Minghao adjusts the glasses he’s wearing on his nose before turning to look at him. The guy doesn’t look Korean either, but… is every guy here gay or what??

“You’re right,” he smirks. “I’m not alone.”

The guy doesn’t seem to understand what he meant however, “Ever since I’m with you.” Then he proceeds to wink and Minghao tries his best not to throw up right this instant.

He’s not ugly at all, it’s quite the opposite actually; “Well, listen. You’re handsome, but not my type.” Of course, Minghao’s type is Soonyoung, _duh_.

The other lifts an eyebrow. “Can’t I be your type now then?” Then he looks at his glass. “I see you finished what you had. I’ll pay for it, and another.”

Minghao’s taken aback. Is this guy crazy?? “What–”

But the guy is too fast and ignores him. “Hey Soon, a glass of wine for the cute face here!” he requests with a hand in the air as to attract Soonyoung’s attention on him.

…‘Soon’???? Another friend of his he never heard of?

Soonyoung approaches them with a giant smile on his face. “Hey Jun! Since when do you consider yourself cute and drink wine too??”

Minghao can’t help but smile at his question as he tries to stop himself from laughing. Soonyoung is dumb but he’s too adorable so it’s very hard to be mad at him.

 _Jun_ laughs awkwardly. “No, I meant him,” he corrects, pointing at Minghao who proceeds to push his finger away.

“It’s rude to point at people like that.”

Next to them, Soonyoung taps his hands and looks amazed. “You know each other??” They both shake their head.

“Uh… no, but you know him?” Jun then asks Soonyoung, who nods.

“Yes, we’re friends!” he responds happily.

It makes Minghao melt on the inside, because there wasn’t this much enthusiasm when he said the exact same words when he talked about Jisoo and him.

Jun only lets out a tiny ‘ _oh_ ’ and doesn’t bother Minghao anymore, certainly embarrassed that he tried to flirt with Soonyoung’s friend. Well, good. “So… you want another glass, Hao?”

Minghao smiles again and he’s sure he looks disgustingly whipped but he doesn’t really care for now. “Not really, but if you’re giving it away for free with love, I can’t say no.”

Soonyoung blushes— _cute_ —and lets out a nervous laugh. “You know I can’t give free drinks.” Then he walks away and Minghao wants to disappear. He’s not sure how he’s so bold when it comes to spilling _ridiculous_ things like that, but he can’t help himself.

Note to self: _please have some restrain. Especially when Soonyoung runs away because of yourself…_

He turns his head and… Jun is gone.

Minghao shrugs it off. It’s not like he’s going to care that he’s not here anymore.

He takes out his phone and checks his notifications. He got a few likes on Instagram and a message from Mingyu, asking if he can get a spoiler from his upcoming exhibition. Sighing, he opens the message and sends a simple ‘no’ then his phone is back inside his pocket.

And someone nudges his arm.

Minghao turns his head again, in the opposite direction and both Jisoo and Jeonghan are looking at him with a smile.

...Why does Minghao have a bad feeling about this?

“Hm?” He blinks, confused.

“Will you have another drink or you’re done for tonight?” Jisoo asks. That’s a strange question. Are they planning to kidnap him?

“I’m good,” Minghao responds, pushing his empty glass away. “What’s up?”

“Okay,” Jisoo nods. “We would like to talk to you,” he inches towards to him to whisper, “away from Soonyoung, so if we could go somewhere else… if you don’t mind of course.”

“What guarantees me that you won’t be kidnapping me?” Minghao asks, an eyebrow raised.

Jisoo chuckles and whispers something into Jeonghan’s ear, then the latter approaches him. “We have a golden offer for you, you can’t refuse. And if that can help, we can talk a bit further from Soonyoung while still staying inside.”

Minghao frowns and thinks about it. It shouldn't be that bad if they stay in a crowded area, right?

He nods his head, calls Soonyoung so he can pay for his drink, then he follows the duo a bit further away, while feeling Soonyoung's eyes on him. Maybe it's just his imagination… he doesn't turn around to check.

“So,” Jisoo starts saying once they find some seats for themselves, “Thanks for trusting us, kind of.” He chuckles and Jeonghan talks too.

“We just met but _oh_ Jisoo shared your story with me and we found it so adorable that we felt like we _had_ to help you out.” He looks like he's fonding, like Minghao is the cutest being he's ever seen.

On the other hand, Minghao is completely puzzled. “Help me out? What do you mean?”

Since he is sitting between the two others, Jeonghan and Jisoo put a hand on each of his shoulders and say at the same time, “Soonyoung”.

His eyes are wide open, his cheeks turn pink, just like the tip of his ears, and… well, he is still puzzled. “W–what???” What's there to do with Soonyoung?

“You see, Soonyoung is our son, since last week but those are details,” Jeonghan says. “You're very obvious, you know…” He proceeds to chuckle ‘evilly’, then continues, “so, because this is too adorable for my mind, I _must_ put you to the test and see if you're worthy for the hand of Soonyoung, then if you pass… you may earn a date with him.” It ends with him wiggling his eyebrows and Jisoo pulling on his ear. “Ow, stop that!”

“Quit being ridiculous,” replies Jisoo, smiling ‘peacefully’.

While they're bickering with each other, Minghao thinks about it, about this _golden offer_ … Well, it's half stupid, half interesting, because Minghao would never be able to ask Soonyoung on a date on his own at the moment. He's too shy for that and it's really easier said than done… besides, with _Kim Mingyu_ roaming around… he just makes things harder for him!

So, Minghao accepts, manages to pass the test which is composed of questions about himself, questions about how he would do this or that if he was in a relationship, and… random questions that literally make no sense, and deep inside he's super excited to go on a date with his crush, but at the same time, it seems too good to be true.

“Congratulations, you have won a date with Soonyoung,” Jisoo claps his hands, Jeonghan too. “Now, here's the challenge.”

“We heard from a trustable source that you may have a rival…” Jeonghan whispers.

_No– they can't be talking about Mingyu right now, right??_

“What– Who– Do I know that person?” Minghao blinks confusedly.

“Chan, does that name ring a bell to you?” Jeonghan asks.

_No way–_

Minghao nods. “Well, his big brother, whom I never adopted by the way, likes him too. He even added that his brother's best friend was just as exasperating than him.”

Minghao grits his teeth. “This little sh–”

“AHH,” yells Jisoo, attracting some people's attention on him but he doesn't seem to care, plus he takes out a fan from his sleeve, remaining calm. Is he a magician??? “Wash your mouth, thank you.”

Minghao only looks at him, baffled. “Anyway,” Jeonghan clears his throat. “We already got to contact him and he scored himself a date with Soonyoung as well, so… you got competition. It would be fair for him that we try not to include you in this but you're both adorable, Soonyoung is so lucky to have guys like you after him.” He looks like he's internally suffering but he's certainly faking it. What an actor. “Luckily for you, we didn't tell Soonyoung yet, so… hopefully he will accept both of you, right?” He grins.

Minghao gulps and thinks about it. It's great opportunity to do something romantic with Soonyoung, but… wouldn't it be a little lame that he'd get to have that first date thanks to an external help? Wouldn't that be non-memorable? He'd surely be more proud of himself if nobody helped him out.

Screw Mingyu.

“Th–thank you, but maybe it's too early for that… I feel like, it would be much better if I asked him all by myself, I would look less like a coward and I don't want him to see me as a coward.”

Jeonghan looks like he's analyzing him whilst listening to what he has to say. “Hm… I see. Mingyu said the same thing. No wonder why you're best friends.” He smiles and gets up.

“Good luck,” Jisoo smiles warmly, gets up too and the two of them leave Minghao alone.

He sighs and goes back to the counter, then when Soonyoung is done, they walk to his place, talking about trivial things.


	13. Convention (Seokmin)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seokmin and Soonyoung go to a convention together, cosplaying as Saitama and Genos. Seokmin is super cool, and Soonyoung is................ stupid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Seokmin** , Soonyoung, Seungkwan, Sungyeon, Jisoo ~~(that's a lot of S)~~  
>  → translation
> 
> There might be mistakes here and there... Sorry, I'm getting worse at translating to english :',',','(

Seokmin knocks on the door and Soonyoung opens it.

“Hey, how are you?” Seokmin asks as he walks into Soonyoung's apartment, smiling.

“Hey, I’m alright. And you?”

“Great! Your costume is awesome by the way!”

“Thaanks~! Yours as well! You totally rock it!!”

“Awww thaaankss~!” Seokmin responds, a slight blush on his cheeks.

Indeed, the two friends are both wearing a costume because they are going to a convention together today.

They decided to make a duo from the anime One Punch Man. Soonyoung is Saitama and Seokmin is Genos. Seokmin's eyes are mostly black—he was scared when he put his lenses on for the first time, but he pretty much mastered the technique now.

It's true that Seokmin's is much cooler and more sophisticated than Soonyoung's, as Genos has some metallic parts on his body while Saitama has a pretty simple outfit. On top of that, Seokmin is wearing a wig while Soonyoung doesn’t. Because, no, Saitama no longer has black hair— _spoiler alert_.

“But how did you do that?” Seokmin asks, which Soonyoung doesn’t understand.

“What?”

Seokmin then clarifies his question. “Your head! It's super realistic, it looks like you're really bald!!”

However, it looks like Soonyoung still doesn’t understand what Seokmin means. He then leans his head slightly to the side, confused. “Uh… I'm not sure I understand you.”

This also makes Seokmin confused. “Well, you put a sort of beanie on to cover your hair, right?”

Soonyoung blinks but doesn’t say anything this time. On the other hand, his ears seem more talkative than him since the tip is progressively turning red.

That's when Seokmin realizes something. To verify his suspicions, he runs his fingers over his friend's head, and the touch immediately gives him an answer. His eyes widen like saucers, you could almost see his lenses in their entirety—which is extremely scary, plus it looks like they are going to fall or they are eating his eyes—, then he finally reopens his mouth to say something: “OH MY GOODNESS! HE SHAVES HIS HEAD FOR REAL!!!”

  
  


Later, they are inside the convention, everything is going very well, Seokmin tries not to look too much at Soonyoung because when he thought it was a cap, it was too cool, but since he knows that there is no hair cap and no hair either… it's suddenly less cool, especially because Soonyoung is his friend, not a stranger. It's hilarious and very embarrassing at the same time.

Many people approached them, complimented and photographed them. Seokmin is proud of himself, he worked very hard on his costume with the help of his big sister—whom he cherishes with all his heart, by the way—so receiving these words makes him happy. Soonyoung is also proud of himself but he bought his costume on the Internet and his makeup is poorly done.

Then suddently…?! “Seungkwan ?!” Soonyoung says as he sees an Avatar duo passing near them. The little bald man with the blue arrow on his head then turns to hear it and, indeed, it is Seungkwan!

“Soonyoung?!?” Seungkwan asks back, obviously very surprised to see them. No wonder since the friends were not aware they would be there since they had not talked about it before. “What a surprise! What are you doing here??”

“Hello to you too, Seungkwan,” Seokmin calmly says, waving his hand in greeting. “Hello Sungyeon,” he says, turning to the girl, who responds immediately. “Shall we go to a corner where there aren’t too many people to talk? Because it’s quite crowded here,” he continues, pushing everyone until they are next to a wall, which is actually close.

"Anyway, are you guys?” Seungkwan asks. “Your costumes are super cool by the way! And how did you make your bald effect super realistic?? I had too much trouble with my cap, I always feel like it looks bad!”

“I told you it doesn’t, it's okay!” Sungyeon says.

Soonyoung laughs, embarrassed—or, Seokmin thinks it sounds like so. “Actually…” then he clears his throat, his fist closed in front of his mouth.

“Thank you Seungkwan, but pass your fingers here to see how he did it,” Seokmin whispers, pointing at Soonyoung's skull. He is aware that Soonyoung can hear him because he is closer to him than Seungkwan is and he does it on purpose, it is to annoy him and at the same time, no.

Confused, Seungkwan obeys, approaches the oldest of them and gently puts the tip of his index finger on Soonyoung’s scalp and _dear god_ his face is comical! Seokmin is sure that his face is breaking records and is worse than he was when he checked earlier, because Seokmin was certainly showing that he was shocked, whereas here it looks like Seungkwan is disgusted.

“... NO, I CAN’T BELIEVE THIS!! YOU DID _NOT_ REALLY DO THAT, SOMEONE TELL ME I’M DREAMING!!!”

Seokmin then laughs while it’s Sungyeon’s turn to be confused. Soonyoung doesn’t move but clearly wants to hide. “What?? What do you mean..?” Sungyeon asks, looking at Seungkwan—who is frozen—and Soonyoung one after another.

While trying to calm down, Seokmin makes a movement with his hand so that she approaches him, which she does, then he whispers in her ear: “This dumbass shaved his hair…!”

Sungyeon slowly moves her head away, Seokmin too, and he starts to laugh after seeing her face. “I agree, he is a dumbass.”

“Hey, you know I can hear everything you say!?” Soonyoung suddenly complains and blushes heavily while slightly inflating his cheeks. What a child. Seokmin feels like the big brother between them.

“Anyway your costumes are great too!” Seokmin says, smiling widely with his thumbs up.

“Thank you!” Sungyeon smiles as well.

Seungkwan finally moves and answers: “Thank you but it's not better than you!”

“Aww you're flattering me, you know?”

His friend laughs.

  
  


“So, the gang has made an appointment here or something?” says a voice from a booth to which the group of friends is heading, amused. “Nice cosplay! The second season of One Punch Man will soon be released, aren’t you hyped?”

“Thank you Jisoo~~!!” Soonyoung replies with a big smile on his face. “Seokmin and I are going to watch the episodes as soon as possible!”

“Yeah!” Seokmin confirms, smiling just as much with his hands up in the air.

“Jeonghan is not here?” Seungkwan then asks while looking everywhere on the booth although _obviously_ Jeonghan isn’t going to play hide and seek while customers await their orders.

Jisoo gently shakes his head, smiling. “No, he stayed in town. We weren’t going to close just to take care of our booth here, so I came alone and I couldn’t not come, I really like to see the creativity of people through their costumes!” He finally said with a slight laugh before serving the lady in front of him.

“Anyway, I heard that the first cup was free?!” Sungyeon whispers loudly, which makes Jisoo laugh.

“It's true but if you want it, you have to go see Jeonghan, not my little booth,” he answers serenely, before quickly dealing with the next client. There is nobody after him.

“Seriously? I have already gone before, it doesn’t count??”

It is true that earlier, a little over a week ago, Seokmin, Seungkwan and Sungyeon went to TMI, except Sungyeon was the only one wanting nothing despite the insistence of Jeonghan.

Seokmin and Seungkwan told her that she didn’t know what she was missing, but she refused anyway, and now she wants one???

“Nope. No free coffee at my booth, girl.” Then he sticks the tip of his tongue out at her and continues to prepare the coffee.

That makes the three costumed boys laugh.

“We told you you shouldn’t refuse the other day,” Seungkwan says, turning towards his cousin.

“I was really not thirsty that day, I did not want to waste it.” Sungyeon then pouts and Seungkwan couldn’t help but gently pinch her cheek, which doesn’t seem to bother her.

When Jisoo finishes serving the last customer in the queue, he turns to them. “Come on, let’s take a picture together!” He says before taking out his selfie stick when everyone nods.

They take some pictures with Jisoo in the middle of them.

“By the way, Soonyoung, your head is starting to be gray…” he then points out, a smile always present on his face as he covers his mouth with his fingers as to keep from laughing, or at least from Seokmin’s point of view, who turns his head and indeed, Soonyoung’s isn’t quite the color of his skin anyway. Seokmin almost wants to laugh too.

Seungkwan, on the other hand, doesn’t hold back and laughs.

Soonyoung is embarrassed. Maybe Jisoo had noticed it before but didn’t want to say it, so the pictures don’t look bad. “You know, knowing you, it doesn’t surprise me.” That Soonyoung is really bald, he means? The youngest of the two still doesn’t say anything. “You're planning on going to the army soon, that's why you did that?”

“Uh… N–no… I just was stupid…”

Seokmin then slides an arm around his shoulders and places the tip of his finger on his cheek. “It’s okay, it looked great! As for me…” He yawns, hiding his face with one hand. “...I can’t wait to remove these lenses because even though they are cool, I have a poor field of vision and it's not very comfy.”

Soonyoung puts his hand on Seokmin’s that’s sitting on his shoulder and squeezes it gently, out of compassion.

 

A little while later, they leave the convention after making some purchases, just to have memories and things to fill their homes unnecessarily.

  
  
  
  


And even later, maybe a week or so, Seokmin is invited to Soonyoung's place to keep him company, because according to his friend, Jihoon and Wonwoo couldn’t look at him seriously, and that really bothered him.

Poor boy. If only he did his research before shaving his head.

Seokmin shakes his head, exasperated by his friend.


	14. Fishing (Mingyu)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mingyu and Chan are on a boat. It's story time~!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Mingyu** , Chan  
> 

Wind slaps Mingyu’s face.

Mingyu counterattacks with hood.

It’s not very effective.

Wind slaps Mingyu's face again.

Mingyu gives up–

“Are you done fooling around?” Chan asks, rolling his eyes.

“The wind is annoying,” Mingyu groans.

The two brothers are all by themselves, in the middle of the water, on a boat that Mingyu rented. _It will do us good to spend time together, just you and I, with the fishes_ , he said. Chan felt forced but agreed anyway because he still loves Mingyu, deep inside.

“Did you catch anything yet?” Mingyu then asks, leaning his body towards his sibling and his fishing rod, as if that could help him see better with that angle.

Chan gently shoves him away. “No.” He sighs. “I’m getting tired hyung, we’ve been here for a couple hours already and we still caught nothing…”

His big brother looks at him with a small smile then slides an arm around his shoulders, giving him a squeeze. “You know, that reminds me of something,” he says, looking far far away where he sees the sky meeting the ocean. Chan turns his head to him, genuinely curious to hear his story. “When I was little, Dad took me to the middle of the water like now and we fished, until my rod started trying to escape from my little hands because something was pulling on the other end of the thread!!”

“Was it a giant fish??” the younger boy asks, an eyebrow arched.

Mingyu chuckles. “Well, maybe?” His brother doesn’t look convinced but doesn’t respond. “It actually was a baby otter boy! Dad helped me pull him out of the water and when he was in his arms, he said we were adopting him and his name was going to be Chan–”

“Bullshit!!!” Chan interrupts with a yell, frowning. “Mom and Dad were on the boat and the fished baby was you! They said ‘ _Oh, Mingyu will be a perfect name for him_ ’!”

It makes Mingyu laugh loudly. Teasing him is so fun. He fondly runs a hand through Chan’s hair. “You know I love you, right? My little Channie baby~~”

The latter shakes his head. “I know.”

Then suddenly, something deep in the water starts pulling strongly on his fishing rod, except that Chan is strong enough to handle it himself. “Oh my god, finally something!” Mingyu nearly screams, like a fanboy.

It takes a few minutes for them to pull it on the boat with the help of a landing net used by the oldest of the two. The fish has an average size so they will keep it since it’s not too small.

And, in the end, Chan caught two while Mingyu caught nothing. “It’s because otters are better at fishing than humans!” Mingyu complains, like a child.

“Well, you’re not a human, you’re a puppy,” Chan shrugs.


	15. Fox (Jisoo)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wonwoo's birthday is soon and Jisoo wants to get him a present.
> 
> Jisoo2 has joined the fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Jisoo** , Seo Jisoo, Mijoo, Wonwoo
> 
> Sorry for the two tuesdays in a row with no update, I'm very busy lately >< It doesn't mean this series is coming to an end, I still have a lot of ideas written on a document, I just barely have time to work on them and I have to translate everything everytime since I decided to do it like that. :c

Wonwoo’s birthday is coming up and Jisoo is taking the opportunity—aka free time without Jeonghan–to get him a present. He heads to the nearest mall while thinking about what to give him and the only thing that sticks to his brain is the following: anything related to a fox. Because, of course, if Wonwoo was an animal, he would definitely be a fox! Everybody agreed anyway, and even if they said nothing, Jisoo would still be convinced fox-anything would be perfect for his friend.

He browses through a few shops, comes out with empty hands, then he encounters _the one_ , his savior. It’s filled with stuffed animals and Jisoo _knows_ he’s going to find his gem here.

Just a couple minutes were necessary for him to find _it_. It’s a great, wonderful, perfect stuffed fox! So perfect that there’s only one left.

Just in case, he walks faster towards it and grabs it, but barely a second later, another hand is also grabbing it.

He quickly turns his head and sees that it’s a girl who looks like she’s about his age, she has monolids but her eyes aren’t small. She’s actually very pretty, but Jisoo isn’t in the mood to be a gentleman today.

“Excuse me? I saw it first, so if you could let it go…” she starts saying, slightly shrugging her shoulders.

“Oh, I’m sorry but I caught it first so could you please remove your hand from it?” he replies, trying to be as gentle as possible.

She blinks and shakes her head. Looks like she refuses to give up. “What? No, I really want it… please?”

No way.

No gentleman Jisoo today. It’s a fight for Wonwoo’s present and Jisoo won’t let her have it!!!

“I need this for my little brother’s birthday. I didn’t find anything else for him so he would be sad if I don’t get him anything, wouldn’t he?” _Excuses_. Wonwoo isn’t his brother at all but she doesn’t have to know that. It’s not like they’ll see each other ever again so she doesn’t need the truth.

The girl is about to reply, when someone else interrupts, another girl, probably her friend since she’s approaching. “Jisoo, what are you doing?”

Jisoo is surprised. He looks at the girl in front of him, and calmly asks, “Your name is Jisoo?”

She blinks at him and nods. “Yes, that’s my name.”

His brain isn’t functioning very well, but isn’t this fun? One Jisoo fighting with another Jisoo for a stuffed fox. Hah.

The other girl stares at their hands on the plush and shakes her head. “Really? You’re fighting someone for a toy?” She chuckles, embarrassed probably.

Female Jisoo slightly puffs her cheeks. “It’s not just a _toy_ , it’s the best stuffed fox I’ve ever laid my eyes on! Come on, I need it.”

Her friend frowns and crosses her arms. “Why? You already have tons of them back at home.”

Female Jisoo looks taken aback and her ears turn pink. Maybe she’ll finally give up! “But– Mijoo–”

Mijoo bows in front of Jisoo. “I’m sorry, please don’t mind her. We’ll leave it to you.” Jisoo blinks and nods but doesn’t have enough time to say something that Mijoo catches her friend’s arm and drags her away, leaving him alone with the stuffed fox. He shrugs, happy that it is now his, and takes it to the counter where he finds the two girls talking to an employee, surely asking if they can restock the plush as soon as possible since they’re pointing at what he’s holding in his hands.

 

Later, Jisoo gives it to Wonwoo on his birthday, Wonwoo stares at him as if it was a joke, but now keeps it in his room. Or, that’s what he said he was going to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> ~~it wouldn't be story of mine if there was no lovelyz lol~~  
> 


	16. Crush (Minghao)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chan organizes a group to play and have fun together. There's a problem, however... that group is only composed of Minghao and Chan, which Minghao gets only when he's already there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Minghao** , Chan  
> 

Minghao walks up to his mirror in his bedroom and checks himself out.

No, Minghao doesn’t have a date with the man of his dream, a.k.a. Kwon Soonyoung, otherwise he would’ve dressed better than that, like a reward for both; for Soonyoung for choosing him, and for himself for conquering him… even though so far, he conquered nothing.

He actually will be hanging out with a group of friends! And it’s all organized by Chan.

A very well organized group of friends by Chan… when the chinese male shows up, Chan is the only one waiting for him.

“Uh… hi. Where are the others?” Minghao asks, looking around. Maybe Mingyu was late? And Seokmin? And others too??

Chan looks at him and sighs. “Sorry hyung… everyone ended up declining the offer. So it’s just you and me today.”

So they just said ‘yeah’ when he asked, then they gave up at the last minute?? And Chan didn’t tell him anything? That’s weird. “Really?” Chan plays with his fingers and nods twice. “Okay… It’s alright, I won’t leave now that I’m here,” Minghao adds and places a hand on the younger’s shoulder, smiling at him.

Chan returns the smile. “Thanks.” Then they started walking to the arcades, where he said they would play together.

 

The place isn’t very crowded so they both can breathe and walk around without any difficulty. There are just a few groups of people.

Minghao is puzzled, however, because Chan isn’t… entirely focused on what they’re doing. They’ve been to arcades together before, along with Mingyu, and Soonyoung once, and Chan was always trying to beat everyone, but today? No. Today… Chan isn’t as competitive as he usually is.

“Are you alright?” Minghao proceeds to ask as he’s getting concerned about his friend, when they just finished playing another game, but Chan isn’t even paying attention to him, so he continues, “Is it because nobody else came..?”

Taken by surprise, Chan finally turns his head towards him and gives him a small smile. “Yes,” he simply answers.

Minghao isn’t believing him but nods anyway. He doesn’t know what to say, so they move on.

But just a few minutes later, Chan excuses himself, saying he saw someone he knows, and walks away from Minghao, who gets curious.

He saw him throwing glances left and right… so if he was spying on someone… Minghao blinks.

Wow, Chan is… not correct! As in… he shouldn’t spy on people like that! Was the group an excuse and that’s why he didn’t tell Minghao anything beforehand?

From afar, Minghao watches the younger male. A girl approaches him and suddenly, Chan is beaming, _literally_. The boy is blushing and smiling so much that if there was a lot of light here, Minghao would be blinded by him.

Well well well… wouldn’t Mingyu love to hear about that? His brother has a crush, and is very obvious.

Minghao decides to distract himself with a game while waiting for Chan to come back, and when he does, he looks happier than before. And the girl and her group of friends are gone.

“So… who is she?” says Minghao with a slight smirk on his lips.

Chan blushes. “A–a friend.” But his expression changes rather quickly when he gets that Minghao wants to hear more. “Okay,” he says, raising his hands, “just– don’t tell Mingyu.”

Minghao fakes thinking and smiles. “What if I tell him? She’s pretty anyway, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind,” he lies—he does think she’s pretty, it’s the ‘Mingyu wouldn’t mind’ part that he’s sure is bullshit.

Chan squints, but confidence seems to appear in his eyes right after as a smirk draws itself on his face. “You know what? Go ahead. I’m sure Soonyoung wouldn’t mind knowing about your feelings for him.”

For some reasons, Minghao didn’t even think about it… about Chan being able to blackmail him like that.

Well, damn.

He surrenders. “Okay, alright, fine,” he replies. “Still, I mean it, she’s pretty so if her personality is great, then no way I’m stopping you.”

Chan chuckles. “If you promise me you won’t tell Mingyu, I can tell you about her. I didn’t tell anyone so it’s all becoming quite heavy for my heart to handle, anyway.”

“Does it look like I have a choice, anyway?” Minghao shrugs. “I promise I won’t tell him anything about your little crush.”

Chan then grins at him. “Thanks, hyung!”

And as they leave, as Minghao accompanies Chan to the latter’s home, Chan tells him about the girl he likes. She’s the same age as him, born barely a month after him, and she’s very nice. She can be crazy when she wants to have fun and he and her go along just fine.

If the girl is just as Chan told him, then Minghao totally approves her, although he still scolded him for spying, which Chan admitted.

Surely Mingyu wouldn’t mind if they ended up dating someday.


	17. Soon-to-be dad (Wonwoo)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jihoon is weird and Seungcheol is great, Wonwoo is very sure of himself.
> 
> ( This happens after story no.8 "No Internet" and explains why some of the weird things happened there so if you didn't read it yet... I suggest you do it 👀 (just a suggestion though)  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/17249111/chapters/42950228 )

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Wonwoo** , Jihoon, Seungcheol  
> → translation
> 
> This one's been sleeping in my drafts for a while, because I had a lot of trouble while translating it. ;; it's awkward   
>  By the way, sorry I truly only know how to write letters in my language, I'm not so sure about english so if it's weird, that's why! _It's a mess, why would do i do research for this lol_   
>  → No, Jicheol is no longer an eventual "pairing".

“That is why I would like to join your team. I beg you to believe, Madam, Sir, in my distinguished consideration,” Wonwoo reads, his fingers resting on his keyboard. “And I sign… Jeon Wonwoo. There, this shitty letter is done.” Then he lets himself fall on his back, since he was sitting on his bed with his laptop on his thighs.

The professional world is very exhausting and Wonwoo, although he became an adult a few years ago, refuses to take his responsibilities in his arms. He is often told that he seems mature because he is tall and his face is not cute… speaking of which, it’s a good thing since he doesn’t like being cute, with a few exceptions: when it comes to teasing Soonyoung, there is no hesitation.

After releasing a terrifying yawn as good as a bootleg lion's, he saves his file, prints it and puts his computer in sleep mode by folding the screen, closing the device like a book, then he stretches, gets up after putting his laptop aside, and he goes to Jihoon’s room. He quickly notices that he is busy with his own computer with his headphones on his head, the kind of headphones that stifles any noise around him, so without wanting to leave him alone without letting him know, Wonwoo approaches him and Jihoon notices him very quickly, which is convenient since he doesn’t like when people touch him and Wonwoo knows it. “Need something?” He asks, releasing one of his ears, his gaze fixed on his friend.

Wonwoo wants to laugh. The tip of his ear is almost red even though the headphones don’t even squish his ears when he wears it completely. “I’m going to the cybercafé. I don’t know when I’ll be back, so keep an eye on your phone,” he replies, gesturing with his hands as if he was holding a phone and pointing at it.

It takes Jihoon a few seconds to react, but he nods slightly and gets up without saying a word, his headphones still on his head and one ear, to get close to Wonwoo and… passes his arms around his frame.

Wonwoo is confused. Hugging is not one of their habits at all, and the last few times they did it was when Jihoon was scared of this Seungcheol, and when it was his birthday. That's all.

Despite the confusion, he hugs him too. Jihoon is like his little brother after all, he won’t reject him even without getting any explanation.

“You okay..?” he asks.

“I’m composing a song,” Jihoon replies. His voice is monotonous, Wonwoo has a hard time guessing how he feels.

He tries anyway, “It's a sad song, right?”

The youngest of the two nods, then finally releases him after a few seconds and sits back down on his chair. “In case you end up exterminated on the road.”

Wonwoo is about to reply when Jihoon puts his headphones back on his ear so he can’t hear him anymore. He puts his phone in his pocket, and continues what he was doing on his computer, as if nothing happened.

“Okay…” Wonwoo whispers before leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

He puts on his shoes and coat, checks that he has his wallet and keys on him, then leaves his home and walks towards the cybercafé. When he arrives, there are a lot of people, but there are also several free seats so he settles where he thinks is the quietest, takes out his earphones and starts playing.

However, he is interrupted after a while… no idea how many minutes have passed since he sat down. Almost… forty minutes?? Oh, time flies when you're distracted.

An earbud leaves his ear after removing it, and his head turns towards the newcomer. “Hi,” says the latter.

“Oh, hello Seungcheol, it's been a while,” Wonwoo replies with a smile, then they shake hands and Seungcheol sits down next to him since there was no one.

“How are you?” Seungcheol also smiles and glances at the screen in front of him without diverting his attention from Wonwoo.

“I’m okay, just tired. It's kind of a habit for every adult, isn’t it?”

That makes Seungcheol laugh. “Ah, but you're not wrong at all!” Then he tries to make himself comfy in his chair. “I also had a long day, and… well, what better than games to relax?”

It’s Wonwoo’s turn to laugh. “I hope you’re joking.” In front of his words, Seungcheol raises an eyebrow but doesn’t erase his smile, as if he was testing Wonwoo while waiting for him to continue speaking. "How many games make us rage quit on this planet? It's anything but relaxing!”

“You’re right,” agrees Seungcheol, chuckling. “Would you like to play with me?”

“Sure, why not.” Wonwoo nods.

They start playing together, then several minutes later, who knows how many, Seungcheol speaks again, “By the way, how’s Jihoon doing? Fine?”

This question was enough to throw Wonwoo in a flashback. Jihoon doesn’t like Seungcheol… because Seungcheol is weird. But Wonwoo really doesn’t think that Seungcheol is bad, he is super nice! He doesn’t understand. “Yeah, he’s fine,” he says, even though earlier, Jihoon was rather… strange.

Seungcheol continues to smile. “Okay, I'm glad to know that. Last time he looked really cold… Did I do something wrong?” Wonwoo thinks, wondering if he should betray his friend's trust, then decides to keep quiet but shrugs. “Oh. Say, are you from the same family?”

Wonwoo is surprised by his question. Someone has already asked if Jihoon was really his little brother before, but it's rare. “Uh no.”

“Really? But I think there is a little resemblance between you,” Seungcheol adds, surprised too. “Excuse me for my lack of discretion but… are you really in a relationship then?”

Wonwoo wasn’t expecting this question at all. He even had to restrain himself from choking.

Since he doesn’t know what to say, he claims he got a message so he goes AFK—Away From Keyboard, unavailable in the game—and opens his conversation with Jihoon, while Seungcheol continues to play and doesn’t try to look at his phone. Wonwoo loves these little walls separating each person. Really.

 

————————————

G-hun

————————————

 

Mayday

 

?

Need me to call the ambulance?

You can call them yourself since  
you’re able to send messages

 

No, idiot

Seungcheol

 

He's still alive?

 

You're so nice lol

He asked me if you were from my family

I said no

Then he asked if we were really in a relationship

And I don’t know what to say

 

Ah

Lmao

Sorry, I cant help you

 

Yes or no??????????

 

Tell him to mind his own business

 

Thank you for your "help"…….

 

————————————

 

Sighing, Wonwoo tucks his phone away and finally answers Seungcheol's question, “Sorry, it's classified information. Did you want to know if Jihoon was single?”

If Seungcheol was already surprised before, this time it is even more so. “Um… I was wondering–… I know it may not be appropriate coming from me, but he looks so young, so if you're really in a relationship…” He looks like he's searching for words, and being nervous…  

Wow, Wonwoo wants to laugh so much! “Seriously?” He asks, a big smile on his lips. He does his best not to burst out laughing, it's difficult. It's not every day he gets called a pedophile. “Jihoon is the same age as me!”

“What?!” Seungcheol nearly yells, shocked. “You… you're kidding. I want to see his identity card!” He adds, tapping his hand on his table, gently; he doesn’t want to get kicked out.

“I swear, I’m not lying. I am of age, he is of age too.”

Seungcheol doesn’t look alright. He leans over towards the edge of the table, puts his elbows on top of it and grabs his own hair as if he was becoming crazy. “Can’t believe that I was wondering if it was your little brother or cousin or if it was a kid that you had kidnapped at first…”

This time, Wonwoo can no longer stop himself. His laugh is so loud that everyone turns to them, and they end up… outside. After apologizing, of course.

“Fu–Damn it, my games…!” Seungcheol groans, as if he had just been deprived of his most precious "toy".

Although, from a _gamer_ 's point of view…

The two men decide to sit down somewhere to keep talking, since they seem to get along really well. Maybe Wonwoo should go home, but he thinks that Jihoon is still busy now so he doesn’t worry about him and devotes himself entirely to Seungcheol.

Their feet lead them to a café, TMI, more precisely. Recommended by Soonyoung, because a free cup for new faces? There’s no reason not to try if it costs nothing but a little bit of time! In any case, that's what convinced Wonwoo.

“Hello and welcome to The Meilleur Ideal!” A man inside says. Surely the owner, Wonwoo thinks.

Seungcheol and he bow to greet him. “Hello,” they say at the same time.

Then, they talk a little together before settling at a table while waiting.

“You know, I think you're a pretty cool guy,” Seungcheol smiles.

“I think the same about you,” Wonwoo smiles back.

“Do you want to exchange our phone numbers? So we can keep in touch.”

Wonwoo lifts his hand. “Friend?”

Seungcheol shakes it, with. "Friend.”

Then they exchange their phone numbers and some personal information such as their dates of birth, etc. Thus, Wonwoo learns that Seungcheol is almost a year older than him.

Then the eldest of the two decides to share some more personal information about him, without forgetting to mention what could be between Jihoon and Wonwoo. “You can hit me if you think I'm going too far, but if Jihoon is not your boyfriend, it's a shame because I think you're cute together.”

It’s with evidence that Wonwoo is almost shocked by his words. Nobody ever told him his best friend and he were cute together… He wouldn’t go as far as to hurt Seungcheol just because he expressed his opinion.

He will never forget this moment spent in this caf” with him. And he will tell Jihoon all of this because he doesn’t feel like he would be able to keep it all to himself, especially when his friend is concerned by the situation.

However, Wonwoo doesn’t have time to reply that Jeonghan, the man who welcomed them, brings them their cups and then returns to the other man playing the guitar.

He takes a sip and realizes that this coffee is excellent. It's really the best he could taste in his life, knowing that he has no access to luxury because he isn’t very wealthy, neither is Jihoon.

“Anyway…” Seungcheol continues, after commenting that he loved this coffee, this place, and that Jeonghan makes him want to come back. “Since I think you're nice and we're friends now, I wanted to share something that weighs a lot on my shoulders right now.” He sighs as if he was starting to feel sad. Wonwoo doesn’t know what to say, so he takes another sip after dropping a little “mh?”, then Seungcheol continues what he started to say, "Actually, I've had a girlfriend for a few years, and… um…” He gently rubs his neck, embarrassed. “She told me a little while ago that she's preg… pregnant…”

Wonwoo puts his cup on the table, his eyes still on Seungcheol.

This man in front of him is a soon-to-be _dad_?? Wooow. He is only slightly older than Wonwoo yet, although he knows that some people become parents at a very young age, Seungcheol is not too young for that, but is he ready to become one?

Wonwoo smiles warmly. Well… it seems warm to him, at least. “Congratulations.” He doesn’t know what to say other than that.

Seungcheol seems to appreciate it anyway. “Thank you. I thought I was ready to become a father, but ever since she told me that, I'm stressed…” He pouted before smiling again and takes a sip of his coffee. “So, when I'm not working and I'm completely stressed about having to take care of my first child in a few months, I go to the cybercafé.”

Wonwoo nods. “I see. I can’t really understand what it's like to be in this situation, but seeing how you are, I think you'll be a good father.” And he means it, sincerely. From the little knowledge he has of Seungcheol, he is really a good person in his eyes, it’s unlikely he will be a bad parent. His child will be lucky to have him as a father.

Seungcheol thanks him again, bowing his head out of respect, and then they continue to talk about it, with laughs. Wonwoo gives him ridiculous name suggestions that Seungcheol immediately refuses, with a smile on his face.

 

Later, when the night just started, where the sky is almost black and the stars are appearing one after another, Wonwoo pulls out his keys, inserts the right one into the front door, then opens it and hears music coming from the living room. He wonders what Jihoon could be doing because it's not really the kind of music he likes to listen to, so after closing the door behind him and taking his shoes and coat off he approaches the living room and sees that Jihoon is there, indeed, the music comes from the television, and Jihoon is asleep.

He looks like a baby, that's too cute. Wonwoo wants to play with his cheeks since he can’ reject him if he isn’t conscious, but… he is sure that Jihoon will wake up very easily so he’d rather not try.

Quietly, he “tiptoes” until he reaches his friend who isn’t sleeping in a very comfortable position.

A little word resembling a groan as if he was suffering escapes from the lips of the youngest, who surprises the other. “Won… Wonwoo…”

It looks like Jihoon is having a nightmare. Wonwoo doesn’t think too much and puts a hand on his shoulder to shake him gently. “Hey, Jihoon,” he begins to whisper, “I'm home.”

Jihoon reacts and slowly opens his eyes, then scans the room before turning his head to Wonwoo who withdraws his hand. He puts himself in a better position but still doesn’t say anything.

“Slept well?” Wonwoo asks, hoping Jihoon will finally say something.

“Yeah,” replied his friend. He yawns and stretches a little. “What time is it?”

“Dinner time.”

“Ah… wait, what is that?” Jihoon grabs the remote control to switch channels. “I was watching a movie while waiting for you and… I think I fell asleep.”

Wonwoo nods and sits next to him on the couch. “I confirm, you fell asleep.”

“I tried to not fall asleep though… Anyway, took you a lot of time to come back. Did you have fun?”

“Sorry, I didn’t pay attention to my watch. I talked a lot with Seungcheol.”

This was apparently enough to make Jihoon frown. “You were with this _guy_ the whole time…?”

Oops, it's true that Jihoon dislikes Seungcheol, but his “affection” towards him is based on something false, so maybe Wonwoo can try to make him change his mind…? He will try. He wanted to talk to him anyway. “Yes. Seungcheol is a good guy, you know? He has a pregnant girlfriend so I'm sure he's not interested in you at all! And before you interrupt me, let me finish.” He sees that Jihoon wants to talk too, but he restrains himself and Wonwoo thanks him for his respect. “He thought you were my little brother or cousin or a kid I kidnapped, that's why he was looking at you weird the other time!” Jihoon looks surprised. “And he added… that if we weren’t in a relationship, it was a shame because… he thinks we’re cute together.”

Jihoon is shocked. Really.

He blushes, which also makes Wonwoo blush.

“And you?” he says. That's all he has to say?

“And me???” Wonwoo is confused by his short question.

“Do you think we’re cute together?”

Wonwoo feels stunned. What is he talking about?? “Do you want to know what I told him?” Jihoon nods. “Uh nothing. We were served right after and changed the topic. But, if you really want to know… well, I don’t know. It's hard to answer that when it's kinda like incest and you know I like women.” Wonwoo has nothing to hide from him. They are very close to each other even if they don’t know each other since their childhood. “Mh… Other than that… you're handsome, you can be cute, but I'm not cute at all so I don’t think we’re cute together.”

“I see.” Jihoon suddenly stands up, pulling the little blanket that was covering him away, to the side. “What do you want to eat tonight?” He asks, changing the subject as he heads for the kitchen.

Then comes dinner, _kimchi flavored ramyeon_ , nothing fancy, which Soonyoung loves even if he isn’t there. They made a stock for when their friend comes to eat at home but this stock is so huge that they eat it even when he isn’t there.

The two friends tell each other what they did when they weren’t with each other.  
  
Oh and good news: Jihoon no longer “hates” Seungcheol anymore.


	18. Sorry (Junhui)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minghao crosses Junhui's path, Junhui thinks it's destiny.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Junhui** , Minghao
> 
> Well, hello, I am sorry for the lack of update since mid-June or something. ;u; I've been really busy since then, and this one was already done but I didn't think about publishing it. OTL But here it is now!! And here I am too!! I'm thinking I might do a "marathon" or something starting from next tuesday for a week, where I'd be updating every day. Maybe. Maybe...

“Okay, see you tomorrow!”

Junhui smiles at his friend and starts walking home after a looonnnng day of school. His head hurts and he just wants to get home, shower, eat and sleep, damn it.

A few minutes later, he sees a familiar person, but thinks he’s just hallucinating, there’s _no way_ he would see that chinese guy from Poudre de Perlimpinpin again– but as they both keep walking, him staring at that guy, that guy paying more attention to the road than anything else, he realizes it’s really him.

It’s destiny.

He must apologize for his sins.

Thus, Junhui firmly stops in front of him, making him stop and look at him as well.

“Sorry for what happened at Poudre de Perlimpinpin! I was dared to do it, I promise it won’t happen again,” he quickly says, bowing.

He waits, but the other guy isn’t saying anything, so Junhui starts thinking he might have made him even angrier at him, but then he hears him clearing his throat. “It’s okay, I… I already forgave you before. It’s nothing, really.”

So it makes Junhui happy. He straightens with a giant smile on his face. “Thank you!”

The guy blinks and smiles back, surely out of embarrassment, Junhui thinks. “You don’t have to thank me, but you’re welcome.” He chuckles. “So, are you _Jun_?”

Junhui blinks more than him and wonders how he knows his nickname, but then he remembers Soonyoung calling him that back then in front of him. “Oh, uh… yes, I’m Jun. Actually, I’m Junhui, nice to properly meet you!” He bows again, but quickly this time.

The other hums. “I see. Nice to meet you as well, I’m Minghao.” He bows too.

“Uhm… You– you know Soonyoung, right?”

Minghao nods. “Yes, we’re friends.”

It’s awkward, Junhui believes.

He doesn’t know what to say and they’re kind of blocking the path for other people, so he decides to flee and go home because he seriously needs to be there. “Alright, um, I have to go home now. Goodbye Minghao!” He waves at him and starts leaving already.

Minghao keeps staring at him, a bit amused—maybe he’s internally laughing at him, oh gosh—, and replies, “Bye, Junhui.”

Junhui feels a bit more at peace now that he got to apologize. His friends were stupid for saying he should flirt with him because he looks chinese like him.

Maybe he shouldn’t drink alcohol with them again.


	19. Album (Jihoon)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jihoon fell in love, with an album. He tries to look for it _everywhere_ , and when he does get it, he doesn't expect it to come with a new friendship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Jihoon** , Soonyoung
> 
> Not this week, sorry. Next update next tuesday. Have a nice week. :)

It’s the nth store Jihoon checks and he’s getting tired.

For a few weeks, he’s been on the lookout for a specific album because he purchased the songs on iTunes and he fell _in love_ with all of them so he thought, _why not own a physical copy of the album?_ He found out it has a limited edition and he _loves_ the design! So he’s been looking for it, but, as you can tell, he never found it.

It’s not easy when you don’t even know the area where you’re living.

He couldn’t look before moving because he lived in a pretty small town and he was about to leave for studies, and now that he’s in Seoul, he was hoping he could find it… 

He sighs and decides to give up for today.

While in bed at night, he wonders where he could look because, damn, he really wants that album.

That’s when he thinks about looking for it online. Maybe he’ll have more luck there.

So this is what he does, the next day during lunch at his university where he still didn’t make a single friend, Jihoon checks a few websites where he could find it, new or used, as long as it’s not half destroyed, he’ll take it.

And that’s when his eyes start shining—or… that’s what he’s imagining.

Someone nearby is selling his copy of this exact album for an acceptable price!! There’s another person selling theirs but it’s not as near and as good—meaning the state is worse—as this one.

Jihoon then immediately messages the person with a text message on the phone—since their phone number is the only thing this person left on their page, because they’re not good with computers…? What?? Is that a grandparent getting rid of their grandchild’s disc as a punishment…??

But then he has to go to his next class so he spends the rest of the afternoon studying while wondering if he can _finally_ get his hands on this damn album.

The excitement is real.

 

So it’s a guy, not a grandparent, and they will meet in a few days in front of a café, they decide as Jihoon is going back to his apartment by bus. They will call each other when they’re about to meetup, to be sure they both get the right person. Whoever arrives first will call the other.

  


Then it’s D-day. It’s a rest day for Jihoon so the only things he has to do are: buy food, get the album.

First, he prepares himself and when he’s ready, he leaves his cocoon and goes to the café. When he arrives, the guy doesn’t seem to be there yet, so he waits a few minutes, then calls him.

“ _Hello, this is Soonyoung! May I help you?_ ” the guy says right after he answers the call. Did he not save Jihoon’s number? Does he even know it’s Jihoon calling? Does… does he answer everyone’s call, even unknown ones?! This guy is fearless! or just ignorant… 

Jihoon frowns. What the hell? “Hello, we’re supposed to meetup for the album. I’m calling to tell you that I’m already–”

“ _Oh, Jihoon! Right??_ ”

Jihoon is baffled. What’s this _Soonyoung_ ’s problem? Why does he have to be so disrespectful and _so_ obnoxious?

He sighs.

“Yes.”

“ _Is that you with the red beanie???_ ”

The student blinks and raises his head, looking around him, until he spots a young man who looks like he’s about his age walking with a smile on his face, his phone to his ear, and staring at him. Also, nobody else is wearing a red beanie here, and nobody else is on the phone, strangely enough, so Jihoon replies, “Yes, that has to be me.”

“ _Cool then! I’m hanging up!_ ” Soonyoung adds and ends the call as his smile gets wider and he puts his phone in his small shoulder bag. He approaches the other male. “Hey, I’m Soonyoung,” he says, introducing himself, yet again.

“Hi. I know, you already told me.” Jihoon rolls his eyes. He’s already getting tired of this weird individual.

“And you’re Jihoon.” Soonyoung smiles even more, as if he was very proud of himself for memorizing _one_ name.

It’s not like Jihoon met him to befriend him, he’re only here for the album. He doesn’t want to be rude, however. “Nice to meet you,” he says, holding out his hand for a handshake.

Still grinning, Soonyoung shakes his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you too!” Then he points to the shop and continues, “Would you like a cup of coffee? It’s on me.”

Jihoon blinks.

Is… Is he _flirting_ with him? Or just an idiot?

Sighing, he opts for the latter and nods. Groceries can wait and he doesn’t look like a murderer at all.

Still Jihoon is cautious.

“Sure, why not.” He smiles back.

So they get coffee and are sitting inside. Because it’s cold outside.

It’s nice, he thinks, even though Soonyoung won’t shut up about the day he got the album and the reason why. And why he’s selling it.

“You know,” he starts after taking his final sip, “I’m very happy to meet someone who loves them as much as I do!” although Jihoon never said that but he actually does. Then Soonyoung takes the album out of his bag. “Do you promise you will take great care of it?”

Jihoon stares at it, then at Soonyoung’s face, and tries to stay calm, because he wants to yell out of happiness because _damn_ , he’s finally seeing the album in person…!! but he doesn’t want to show Soonyoung that, so he must remain calm.

Thus, he clears his throat.

“Yes, sure, I will take care of it,” he says as he looks inside his own bag for his wallet, but Soonyoung being the weirdo he is, according to Jihoon, interrupts him.

“Nooo you must promise it!” Soonyoung puffs his cheeks, like a small child, which he surely is.

He’s very cute, Jihoon thinks. But it’s not time to blush nor think about befriending this odd person, so he sighs and nods. “Alright. I promise I will take great care of the album.”

And they trade.

  


Jihoon doesn’t think he’ll ever talk to Soonyoung again even though he kept his phone number saved on his own phone—who knows what Soonyoung did with his—, but it happens.

Soonyoung messages him about a week later, because the idiot wants to know how the album is doing. He’s even asking for evidence, which annoys Jihoon rather quickly.

A video Soonyoung got, of Jihoon showing himself with the album, with anything to show what time and what day it is, and telling him to stop insisting because he has other more important things to attend to instead of wasting his time with an album that isn’t even his anymore.

  


After that ‘brutal’ video, Jihoon believes Soonyoung won’t talk to him ever again, but still it happens.

Jihoon can’t believe it.

They were going to the same concert and in the middle of hundreds of people, they still managed to see each other.

This must be a nightmare.

“Hey, Jihoon! Long time no see!” says Soonyoung as he walks towards Jihoon, as best as he can since the place is crowded, the concert over since a minute ago.

Jihoon groans lowly, internally mumbling ‘not him’. It’s as if it was _impossible_ for Jihoon to disappoint and make Soonyoung avoid him at this point. How to get rid of him? He wonders.

He pretends he didn’t notice him but Soonyoung doesn’t seem to care. “It’s really fancy to see you here and that makes me happy!” he adds once he’s next to him.

It forces Jihoon to turn to look at him. “Yeah. Hi, Soonyoung.”

Soonyoung squeals. Literally _squeals_. “Oh my dear goodness, you remember me!” He grins widely, and geez, even if he’s pretty annoying, he’s really good looking. How many people fell for his looks and nice words?

“It’s hard to forget you.” Jihoon shrugs and keeps walking towards the exit, with Soonyoung following him.

Apparently, it was enough to make Soonyoung even more excited than he already was. “You really think so?? I think you’re hard to forget too!”

Oh god, is Soonyoung attracted to pain?!

What has Jihoon even gotten himself into when he wanted that album—which he still loves, by the way, Soonyoung has no influence over his affection for it—??

He sighs, hoping Soonyoung didn’t hear it even though he still hopes he gets the message, somehow. “Do… don’t you have people you can spend time with, instead of being with me, a stranger?” Jihoon asks, with uncertaintitude as they’re finally outside, fresh air slapping their faces but it’s not too unpleasant even though it might be the reason why Soonyoung’s cheeks are currently pink.

That was enough for the taller male’s smile to vanish.

Uh oh.

“A–actually… Everyone rejects me, my family lives far from here, so… I don’t have anybody, no,” Soonyoung replies, a sad smile now on his face.

Jihoon feels guilty. Who would have thought? Soonyoung isn’t the kind of person Jihoon thought he was.

But why did he insist with Jihoon? He rejected him too, after all.

He’s still a weird.

“Uhm…” Jihoon clears his throat, his face pink from embarrassment. “I–I’m sorry.”

Soonyoung shakes his head. “No, it’s fine. You couldn’t guess that.” He lets out a tiny and awkward chuckle. Jihoon lightly bites his bottom lip and thinks about what to say but Soonyoung continues, “You probably have people you’d rather spend time with. Sorry for bothering you, I will–”

“Wait!” The shorter male interrupts. “I… I don’t have anybody either here. So… if you want we can–”

“Hang out?”

“Yeah… Yes. We can hang out together.” Jihoon says firmly. And he actually means it.

Soonyoung stares, and stares, but doesn’t say anything. It’s starting to worry Jihoon, but then– oh, Soonyoung is grinning, and he looks genuinely happy. He’s back to himself. “Ohhh yes I would love to do that with you, Jihoon!” He even looks too happy. And acts like a baby, kind of. “I knew you were great the moment I saw you for the first time!!” It almost makes Jihoon regret changing his mind.

“What are you, a wizard?” He jokes. An attempt.

And bingo, it works: Soonyoung laughs. “Of course!” he confirms.

They end up hanging out and it turns out Soonyoung is greater than he looks. Seriously.

In the end, Jihoon has no regret, he gets a fantastic album _and_ an awesome friend, his first friend since he arrived in Seoul. He’s also Soonyoung’s first friend, how great is that?? Because Soonyoung is just as recent in the city as he is, and they’re the same age!

  
  


“By the way, how is the album doing??”

“You really won’t stop asking about it…?!”

“Well, what can I say, I miss it! It was like my baby!”

“...”

“Has anyone ever told you you were cute???”


	20. China (Mingyu)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mingyu's best friend comes back from China, and they talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Mingyu** , Minghao

The front door is unlocked and footsteps are heard, along with something rolling on the floor. Mingyu tries to stop himself from smiling and giggling nervously, but it’s hard!

Then he hears a loud “Is anyone there?”, more footsteps, approaching his position, and “Kim Mingyu, I know you’re here!”, which makes the called one come out of his hiding spot to ‘greet’ his best friend, a giant smile stuck on his face.

“Surprise!” Mingyu grins.

“What?” Minghao replies, blinking confusedly.

“How did you know I was here??”

Minghao is silent for a few seconds before stating the obvious, “Your shoes are at the entrance and you would never leave these ones in particular even though I am your best friend.”

Mingyu chuckles. “Yeah, obviously.” Then he goes in for a tight hug. Minghao hugs him back. “Dude, I missed you!”

The other male smiles and pats his back. “I missed you too, Gyu.”

They release each other. “So, how was China??”

“It was great,” Minghao says as he finally gets rid of his shoes. “Got to see family and friends, I missed them a lot. And I still do now, actually.” He laughs awkwardly, probably because he’s thinking about them now.

“Aww, how cute,” Mingyu coos. “Your family and friends there must be amazing.”

“They are.” Minghao smiles and takes a sit on the couch next to his friend who just settled down before him. “Wasn’t it boring without me around here?”

Mingyu faints thinking while tapping on his chin, and nods. “Yeah, it was a little boring without you.”

“ _A little_ you say?” Minghao nudges his friend. “Admit you were very bored without me.”

“I–”

“I’m just joking.” He laughs softly. “How are the boys doing?”

Mingyu thinks about the question and wonders if he should tease him.

Well, of course he should.

“Fantastic! And you don’t know what you missed, man.” He sighs and slides an arm around Minghao while looking in front of him, the other staring at him with curiosity.

“What?”

Mingyu then turns his head towards him. “I beat you, Soonyoung is my boyfriend.”

At first, Minghao looks surprised, then betrayed, then– Mingyu can’t tell, but Minghao is laughing, as if Mingyu told him the bestest joke of all time.

Technically, it is a joke. Mingyu still achieved nothing, damn it.

“Yeah, right!” Minghao says as he calms down. “Dude, I called him when I arrived. Saw his face and everything, and– he would’ve told me if he was dating you. I would’ve seen it on his face.”

However, Mingyu doesn’t register everything he said. No. Now, he’s the one who feels betrayed. “Excuse me?? You video call your crush but not your best friend!?”

Minghao rolls his eyes. “I messaged you first and he asked.” He shrugs. Then lets out a small chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” Mingyu arches an eyebrow. It’s true that Minghao messaged him pretty fast when he landed at the airport, and even sent him a photo, but really, why is he laughing?

“I was just thinking.” Minghao smiles. Mingyu stares. “We keep arguing and fighting because we both got a huge crush on the same person, but even if we’re pretty harsh sometimes… I don’t want to lose you, ever.”

Mingyu is surprised. And touched.

Well, damn, Minghao is… is amazing. Of course Mingyu doesn’t want to lose him either! They’re best friends for a reason after all.

Thus, Mingyu coos, again. “Minghao, you’re the cutest! after Soonyoung,” he mutters the last part, Minghao blinks, then the taller male clears his throat. “I mean… yeeaaah we’re pretty childish, but that’s also why we love each other, right?”

With a smile, Minghao nods. “Yeah,” he confirms.

“You know, if he ends up choosing you, I wouldn’t be too mad, I would be sad because he wouldn’t have chosen me but you’re great as well, so you deserve a chance too and… I would be really sad if we parted from each other just because of him. He’s a great friend as well but… you’re my bestie, and… and… I love you and I missed you a lot when you were away!” Mingyu ends up pouting, because he feels like a child, because he’s having bad thoughts, because he’s Mingyu.

Minghao looks at him with sympathy and hugs him tightly once more, his hand softly rubbing his back. “Aw Gyu, you know I would never want to be away from you just because Soonyoung would’ve picked one of us, but what do I know, maybe he never realised we like him and maybe he will choose someone else… like Chan?”

Upon hearing his brother’s name, Mingyu pushes Minghao away, not too strongly either, and looks at him with big eyes, all evidence of him being sad gone. “No. Never. He will never have Chan. He can have me, but not Chan.”

It makes Minghao laughs loudly. “Yeah yeaaah. I love you too, Kim Mingyu~!” He pats his friend’s shoulder then gets up from the couch. “Speaking of Chan, I wanna see him once I’m done with my luggage.”

“Hey, we could hang out with everyone in a few days, if you want.” Mingyu suggests, out of the blue. It’s been a while, so why not.

And that’s what Minghao replies, with a warm smile on his face, “Sure, why not. That would be cool.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *looking for depth 🔍*


	21. Coffee Shop (Jeonghan)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jisoo wants to talk to Jeonghan, because Jisoo has a surprise for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Jeonghan** , Jisoo

Jeonghan yawns, searches his bed, frowns, and goes back to his previous position, ready to sleep a little more. Five more minutes, that’s all he needs to feel energetic… right? That always works, right?

But as he starts falling asleep, his phone starts ringing again, making him groan loudly. He curses whoever’s trying to disturb his peaceful morning.

With difficulty, he sits up once more and looks everywhere around him, then finally finds his phone and grabs it. It’s a little blurry but he can make out Jisoo’s face on the screen.

Sighing, he answers the call. “Hi,” he says, with a clear lack of energy.

“Good morning, Hannie~!” Jisoo replies. There’s an evident difference between his cheerful voice, and Jeonghan’s… half dead voice. “How was your night? Slept well?” And as if on cue, Jeonghan yawns. It makes Jisoo chuckle. “You really need to go to sleep earlier.”

“I know…” Jeonghan rubs his face and gets up.

“Anyway, I need you to get here as soon as possible.”

He blinks, confusion taking over his brain. “Uh… where’s ‘here’?”

“My place.” Jisoo smiles. Jeonghan can’t see him, but he’s sure, from the tone of his voice, that Jisoo is smiling. “Get your ass over here, I need to talk to you.”

“Aren’t we already–” but Jisoo cuts him off, by ending the call.

Jeonghan looks at his phone on which he can see his lockscreen, until the screen turns off, and sighs.

  


“There you are~” Jisoo says as he steps aside, letting Jeonghan in.

“Here I am,” Jeonghan says, ‘repeating’ Jisoo’s words.

Jisoo closes the door behind them. “Let’s go to the living room, I prepared coffee for you,” he adds, sipping on his own cup.

Jeonghan takes a seat in front of his and grabs it, taking a sip and humming right after. “So… what did you want to tell me?”

“Remember when we talked about opening a café together a while ago?”

He thinks about it briefly and nods. “Yeah, we talked about it several times for months, we started before you even started living here.”

Jisoo chuckles. “Yeah, I was just testing you.” And sips. Jeonghan makes a face. “See, the thing is, I have gathered enough money to open one now,” Jisoo adds as he pulls out a piece of paper he hid underneath the tablecloth, which obviously surprises the other. Then he shows him what actually on it, a bunch of letters and numbers.

“Holy–” Jeonghan starts saying as he tries not to spill the precious coffee his friend made for him. “How???”

Jisoo leaves the paper on the table and sips again. “Didn’t you notice?”

Notice what? Jeonghan looks around him and notices something is actually missing. “No, you didn’t–”

“I sure did.”

Jeonghan can’t believe Jisoo actually got rid of one of his most prized items. For this.

Wow Jisoo.

He gulps and finishes his coffee, which makes his friend laugh.

“So, what we should do is look for a place to have our coffee shop. Then we should look for a place to live together. And–”

“Hold on! You’re not going to pay everything all by yourself!”

Jisoo blinks. “Not a prob–”

“Yes, it is a problem.”

They argue, but things end up going well.

They decide to split it 50/50 so it would be fair for both of them.

 

Then time passes, they find their new shared apartment, the café is placed and prepared, and everyone is happy.

Except maybe Jisoo.

“You told me you knew how to play the bass–”

“‘ _knew_ ’,” Jeonghan interrupts with barely any interest in whatever Jisoo’s got to say.

It makes Jisoo groan. “Hell, you even showed me and you played _well_. The acoustic guitar too! So why am I the only one playing it here!?”

Jeonghan looks at his red fingers, but still dares to shrug. “I don’t know, I’m too busy serving customers.” Truth is, he feels shy about it and doesn’t trust himself, doesn’t think he’d have enough confidence to play in front of customers. What if he makes them never want to come back? That would be bad business!

“What do you mean ‘ _customers_ ’? So far we’ve been open for a week and all we saw were a few persons! Look, even now, we’re open but there’s nobody!”

“At least we met Soonyoung–” A.K.A his favorite customer so far.

But Jisoo is giving him a death stare, so Jeonghan surrenders, his arms in the air.

“Okay, fine, you win. I’ll play it starting tomorrow.”

Jisoo grins softly. “Oh, Hannie, I knew you were the best.”


	22. Spied spy (Chan)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chan is in love. And Chan hates Jeonghan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Chan** , Jeonghan, Yerim

It’s a very beautiful day outside and Chan thinks it’s perfect to read the newspaper in the park.

Well… ““ _read_ ””. He’s pretending, although some stuff in there is actually pretty interesting, like… there will be a concert at the beach and it doesn’t cost an arm to go! He would totally go to that concert, if only… 

He raises his head from the papers and looks in front of him.

...If only he was friends with _Yerim_.

He sighs and adjusts himself on the bench, his buttocks starting to ache from the hard wood beneath it.

The girl goes to the same school as him, they’re not classmates but they could’ve been since they’re both the same age. When there were projects involving their classes, they would interact; they worked together once with a few other people. That’s not when Chan got to know her for the first time. Actually, the first time they met and talked together was when they started highschool. They were the only students waiting in line to meet a certain person stuck in their office, and Yerim decided to talk to him. They introduced each other and that’s when they knew they were the same age.

Later on, someone was flirting with Yerim, or bullying her—Chan was never sure—, but she was clearly uncomfortable. She wasn’t rejecting the guy so Chan decided to help her, and he successfully managed to shoo the guy away, somehow. Yerim was grateful, and Chan never got over how cute she looked at that time.

Since then, she’s become a stronger person, and Chan feels proud of her.

With all these information, it would be easy to think they should be friends now, but they aren’t and never were in the first place.

Chan wishes he did more things with her in the past, that way, they would be friends.

He releases a sigh, at the same time as someone who apparently plopped next to him while he was lost in his thoughts.

Scared and surprised, he widens his eyes and turns his head, only to find Jeonghan on the same bench as him.

What the hell is he doing here??

“That’s cute and creepy, if you wanted to ask what I thought about what you’ve been doing the whole time,” he says, looking calmly at Chan, who’s now in shocked after what he said. Has he been observing him while he was _spying_ on his crush?

“What–”

“I don’t understand,” Jeonghan interrupts and crosses his arms with a frown. “If you like her, why don’t go and talk to her?” But Chan remains silent, so Jeonghan continues, “By the way, how did you know she would be here in the first place?”

Chan rolls his eyes. “What are you? A police officer? I just happened to be here before she arrived.” And he’s not lying. He was jogging with Mingyu, then they took a break right here on this bench, and when Mingyu wanted to leave, Chan insisted he wanted to stay and asked for the newspaper he was holding.

Chan believes in destiny.

However, he’s starting to regret it since Jeonghan now knows about how he feels about the girl, although Jeonghan doesn’t know anything in reality.

“I’m not a police officer, I’m your dad.” Chan squints his eyes at him, but Jeonghan doesn’t react. “Who is she? Should I interrogate her?”

“You’re not my father! And don’t move!” the younger yells in a whisper so Jeonghan will obey and Yerim and her friend won’t hear him.

But Jeonghan does not listen, gets up from the bench, but doesn’t move forward because of Chan’s hands on his arm, and the girls are looking at them now. That’s just great.

Yerim’s friend tells her something in her ear, and it makes her giggle. That’s even better.

Chan’s face is red from embarrassment. He tucks the newspaper in his bag, because it’s not his after all so he’d rather not throw it away, and forces Jeonghan to leave the park with him.

But Chan is not going to run away like that now that he got Yerim’s attention on him, even though that totally wasn’t supposed to happen. So when they’re far enough, whatever that means, Chan stops and tells Jeonghan to leave, then he goes back and sees that Yerim actually trailed after him.

He widens his eyes.

What the actual f#€%????

They bow to each other and Chan suggests walking, just in case Jeonghan tries to spy again.

“So… I’m surprised to see you here. What were you doing?” Yerim asks, awkwardly.

“I was chilling. My brother forced me to jog with him.” Chan shrugs, trying to hide why he stayed that long.

“Oh, I see,” she nods with a chuckle. “Was that guy with you your brother?”

Chan is stunned. “Uh, no. He’s a stranger who does questionable things. My brother is home now.”

Yerim laughs. And Chan loves it. “Okay okay. Well, I think we’re being watched so… see you tomorrow!” She smiles and waves him as she leaves.

He waves back and smiles, then turns around and… Jeonghan is still here.

“That was cute!” he says.

Chan groans and goes home.


	23. Slight crush (Hansol)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hansol feels something for Soonyoung, but he can't stop thinking about something else... someone else...
> 
> (Happens after story 10 "Shameless" (https://archiveofourown.org/works/17249111/chapters/43380746)  
> Feel free to read. Or skip.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Hansol** , Soonyoung  
> → translation
> 
> There's a few things I wanna say :)   
>  \- I'm still going to upload everyday for a week, writing everything is just taking longer than planned... not that I even planned anything in the first place– (pssht, remember it's a _mess_ )   
>  \- I honestly didn't even realize it's been months since I added some Verkwan content here... so... yerp, I'll try to focus on that. A bit more.   
>  \- There's more... romance than comedy, I think? Sorry about that. I mean, romance is not my forte. It's just tough... I don't even make sense;; Just wanted to point out that I am aware   
>  \- Typed this one yesterday and I believe it was teddy bear day? or something?? I wanted it to be about stuffed toys anyway haha   
>  \- Sorry for the weird translation. It's difficult for me to translate to English... which is even why there was no translation for a while here.   
>  Happy reading now (sweats)

Hansol stares at the shop window in front of him with intensity, his friend Soonyoung standing beside him. The latter wanted to hang out—just the two of them—and as usual, they went to do some shopping together.

This time, Soonyoung had a _big_ crush on several stuffed toys but hesitated a lot. That's why Hansol is trying to help him now.

“You don’t have any preference?” He tries.

Soonyoung frowns and puffs up his cheeks without looking away from the stuffed animals, which is very adorable for someone of his age. This action makes Hansol blush—he already confessed to having an attraction for his friend.

This is _ridiculous,_ he already convinced himself, especially since he doesn’t stop thinking about Seungkwan when he feels _affected_ by Soonyoung like that.

He should not compare them, yet he can’t help it.

He misses Seungkwan so much… 

“Every single one of them is too cute... though…” Soonyoung seems to think about it while squinting slightly. “... the little fur ball charms me a little more than the others… What do you think?” He then asks, turning to his friend.

Hansol doesn’t understand why Seungkwan has been trying to flee from him since they saw each other in the park. Maybe he was too straightforward? This is what he told himself when he tried to speak to him through texts and when Seungkwan didn’t answer him. He tried to apologize, but without being able to talk to him, it's… quite complicated.

“Mmh… why not.” Hansol shrugs slightly. He doesn’t know what Soonyoung could take with him without emptying his bank account.

He only knows which one Seungkwan would like. Maybe it would be a good idea to get it for him…? Even if Seungkwan still doesn’t want to talk to him after that, Hansol would be happy to give it to him. As long as Seungkwan is happy… 

Oh, Hansol feels… sappy? Too romantic for his taste. And weak.

“Hansol?” Soonyoung's voice surprises Hansol who apparently got lost in his thoughts without even realizing it. The latter turns towards his friend, a surprised look on his face, which makes him laugh. “I don’t know what’s on your mind, but I was suggesting to go somewhere else while thinking about it.”

“Oh, uh… Yes, we can do that,” replies Hansol with a nod.

They move away from the window to go to other shops.

 

Then after having bought some things, Soonyoung makes a grimace. “Is anything wrong?” Hansol asks, looking at him curiously.

“I have to go to the toilets. Here,” said Soonyoung, handing him the bag he is carrying. Hansol takes it, so he is carrying two bags now. “I'll try to be quick, be right back!”

And Soonyoung rushes to the nearest toilets.

 _This is the perfect opportunity to go take the plushie for Seungkwan_ , Hansol thinks. He then rushes, to the shop in front of which they were stuck earlier.

 

Luckily, when he comes back to where Soonyoung left him, his third bag in hand, his friend is still not there. He goes to the toilets where he should be then waits at the entrance, where there is a free bench.

Hansol feels lucky upon seeing this bench.

However, he waits… and waits… but still doesn’t see any sign of Soonyoung.

Hansol looks around him.

_Where is Soonyoung??_

Soonyoung being Soonyoung, chances are: he's lost.

He calls him with his phone.

“ _Ha-Hansol…_ ” Soonyoung suddenly moans from the other side of the call, like a child.

“Let me guess… you’re lost?”

He hears a sigh coming out of the speaker. “ _I had a hard time finding the toilets so I went really far and I can’t find my way back…”_

What a baby. “Okay. Don’t move, I’ll come to you. Tell me what's around you?”

And a few minutes later, Hansol finds Soonyoung in front of the other toilets. The latter jumps on him as if he had just saved him.

“W–wait, I–”

“You had time to go buy something else without me??” The older man interrupts, letting go of the other, his eyes glued to the alien bag in Hansol's hand.

“Yes, uh… Here.” Hansol throws his hand into the bag and pulls out a stuffed toy. The _fur ball_ , more precisely.

Soonyoung's eyes seem to glow instantly in front of it. He looks at it but doesn’t look sure of himself. “Are you sure it's for me?!” Hansol blinks and nods, then Soonyoung finally takes the stuffed toy between his hands. “Thank you Hansolie!” Then, his gaze goes back to the bag. “Oh, you got one for you too?”

It takes Hansol by surprise. He doesn’t know what to say and thinks about it,

but it’s not enough time to formulate an answer because Soonyoung speaks up again: “Is it for Seungkwan?”

 _Caught red-handed_ , Hansol thinks quickly and says, “More or less…” that’s it.

It’s Soonyoung’s turn to think about his reply. It looks like a turn-based game… hah. “Um… alright… Let’s go?” He says, as if he felt that Hansol was uncomfortable.

Hansol is really happy to have a friend like Soonyoung. He’s really… catastrophic sometimes and can do unimaginable things, but when things are serious, he’s always great, no more jokes.

_No wonder his charm has an effect on several people, and for a while, even._

He nods and they leave the area together, a smile on their faces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will obviously be another part where Hansol will do something with that stuffed toy he got for Seungkwan   
>  stay tuned? maybe.


	24. Baby (Chan)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Mingyu is a fool, but Mingyu is adorable and (...) Chan loves him very dearly, genuinely.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Chan** , Mingyu, Minghao

“Channiiiie! Come back heeere!” yells a small Mingyu, a brand new diaper in his hand.

He’s running after his little brother, who just recently learned how to walk, and even how to _run_.

So here they are, two tiny boys running around the house. Mingyu already wants to help his mom and his dad in _every_ task, that’s why he’s trying to change Chan’s diaper, but the latter doesn’t look like he wants to cooperate with his big brother and would rather wander naked than with a diaper surrounding his private areas.

Their mother chuckles while watching them, and so does Minghao.

“See, I was always a very caring brother,” Mingyu says, sounding very proud of himself.

It’s a video of Mingyu and Chan when they were small, but Chan never said he could show that to Minghao, _ever_. This is _so_ embarrassing.

He knows there’s no bad intentions behind this and Minghao won’t talk about it to his own friends and family, he trusts him, but still!

“Really? Doesn’t look like you are,” Minghao replies with a chuckle.

Maybe Minghao _is_ on his side.

“Why not?”

And Mingyu is dumb.

“You’re showing me this without his consent. How would he feel if he learned that, do you think?”

Because Chan is hiding, they don’t know he’s already aware of what Mingyu’s done.

But then he comes out of his hiding spot, his arms crossed, and says, almost whining, “You’re right, Minghao-hyung, I want a new brother!”.

It makes Mingyu jump out of surprise, and since he’s Mingyu, he immediately apologizes to Chan and adds that he is the cutest and he’s so happy they’re brothers.

Chan blinks in confusion, then laughs and hugs him tight in front of an emotional Minghao.

Mingyu is a fool, but Mingyu is adorable and his entire being screams _purity_ —as in, he would never hurt anything nor anybody even though he’s being going to the gym pretty often lately—, Chan loves him very dearly, genuinely.


	25. Cinema (Seungcheol)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wonwoo invites Seungcheol the fanboy to go watch a movie with him and Jihoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Seungcheol** , Wonwoo, Jihoon
> 
> I lose track of time and tuesday's here before I know it... welp. I'm getting slower...

The movie is about to start and Seungcheol is happy he gets to spend some time with his new friends. Well… friend, not _friends_.

A few days ago, Wonwoo invited him to go to the cinema with him today, and made sure to ask Jihoon first. Of course, Seungcheol also told his girlfriend about it, and she’s okay with it, saying he’s doing things right, people should spend time in the company of people they like. After that, he kept reminding her how much he loves her, but that’s another story, for another time, maybe.

He really wants to ask her to marry him but just thinking about proposing makes him even more nervous since thinking about his future child is already pretty stressful for him. Not that he doesn’t want the child, of course. It’s just complicated…

Anyways, Choi Seungcheol is punctual. So he arrives a few minutes early in front of the cinema and he can’t see Wonwoo nor Jihoon, so he waits. In the meantime, he takes a photo of himself and sends to his girlfriend, who says he’s cute and an exemplary person who will be a wonderful dad in a few months.

Perhaps he shouldn’t talk to her if he doesn’t want to think about what’s coming for him.

And as he tucks his phone in his pocket, he hears Wonwoo’s voice calling him so he raises his head and sees the duo arriving on time. Wonwoo is waving at him, a hand in his pocket, while Jihoon has both hands in his coat. Speaking of his coat, it’s hiding his chin, it’s so cute!

“Hey,” says Seungcheol, a smile on his face.

“Hello,” the two others say at the same time. “Have you been waiting for a while?” Wonwoo then asks.

The older male shakes his head, and they head inside.

It’s no fancy cinema but the room they’re going to stay in for the next two hours is pretty loud. Not because there are striking colors, _no_ , but because there are several groups of people in there. It’s not nearly full, but it isn’t nearly empty either.

They find three available seats next to each other with ease although the view is not the best there. It’s good enough.

There are still quite a few minutes until the movie starts so Seungcheol and Wonwoo talk while Jihoon busies himself with his phone, and sometimes talks to the two others so he won’t feel left out. According to Seungcheol.

Then the room dims and ads start playing. That’s when Wonwoo disappears for the restroom, saying he didn’t realize how much he needed to go there earlier. So, Seungcheol is alone with Jihoon for the first time. It’s a bit awkward, the former thinks.

Still he doesn’t think Jihoon is bad although he keeps acting cold around him. If he was, he wouldn’t stick with Wonwoo like that, right? That’s it! He just needs to be warmed up and he will stop to act cold!

Seungcheol clears his throat and turns his head towards the latter, who also turned his head towards him as if he got that he wanted to talk to him. “Excuse me for my lack of discretion, but how did you and Wonwoo meet?” Seungcheol asks and mentally slaps himself for not coming up with something better.

He expects Jihoon to ignore or yell at him, but none of that happens. Instead, he stays silent for a couple of seconds, then opens his mouth to answer his question. “It was at school, but what really brought us closer is a friend we have in common,” he calmly says over the loud sound coming out of the speakers.

Seungcheol looks at him seriously and nods in all calmness as well, but deep inside… he is close to freaking out like a fanboy. He really is. He’s so curious but doesn’t want to try to dig too deeply, that would be pretty disrespectful. Instead, he tries to make it fair and tells him how he met his girlfriend. He avoids certain details and makes it quick. Jihoon looks at him and nods. Seungcheol is not sure if he cares or not, but then Jihoon tells him that it was cute and it’s nice that they’re still together now.

It makes Seungcheol blush, then Wonwoo is back with a smile on his face.

Despite how dark the room is, Seungcheol doesn’t miss the brightness coming out of Jihoon’s eyes, nor the way he looks at Wonwoo as their friend is taking his seat again.

If he had a lightstick with him, he wouldn’t hesitate to use it. Because it’s too cute–

But his thoughts get interrupted as the movie is finally starting.

 

And they all enjoy it until the end. Especially Jihoon, it seems.

He’s really not as cold as he tries to appear before Seungcheol’s face. He’s really just acting.


	26. Heavy rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's raining a lot and Wonwoo is about to go home, when he notices Jihoon not budging an inch at the entrance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Characters:** **Wonwoo** , Jihoon
> 
> There's a lot of Wonhoon content (or whatever it's called), I know. I have an excuse! Today, I'm late, it was raining a lot, and there were moments for this pairing lately... and I also wanna keep better stories for later. Please read the note below, I updated it! unless you don't care, that's fine. xd

The last class ends and Wonwoo checks his bag in case he forgot anything. When he’s done checking, he leaves the classroom with his umbrella in hand, as he saw on TV that it was going to rain, and immediately walks home since Soonyoung said he finished earlier so there was no reason to stay any longer. Homework wasn’t a good excuse to keep him trapped at school… although it should be.

So he walks and walks and when he’s about to step outside and open his umbrella, he notices a familiar figure, who’s none other than Soonyoung’s friend, Jihoon. He remembers when they met the other days and how nice he actually is despite being quiet. But what is he doing? He’s just standing there, watching the rain… shouldn’t he be going home too? Since he’s obviously done with his day as well…

Wonwoo approaches him and avoids touching him, because they’re not that close and he also doesn’t want to scare him off. “Hey, Jihoon,” he says, greeting him.

Jihoon flinches a little and turns to him. He looks surprised but tries to hide it, apparently. “Oh, Wonwoo. Hi,” he says back.

Wonwoo thinks about what he could say to continue the conversation, and most importantly, to convince him to go with him so he won’t end up sick the next days. Wonwoo’s _that_ warmhearted after all… he simply doesn’t show it to Soonyoung. “You’re also done with school for today, right?”

The other student nods slightly.

“Mh, you don’t have an umbrella. We can share mine,” Wonwoo continues and points to his umbrella.

Jihoon looks at it silently. “I… I’m fine. It’s not a little rain that will kill me after all.”

The taller male is taken aback. The rain outside is definitely not _little_ … so, yes, that worries him. “It’s… not little… Sure it won’t kill you, but you will be sick.” He then opens his umbrella and places it above them. Jihoon is close enough, but as he looks at it, he steps back and shakes his head.

“I’ll be fine,” he insists.

 _Stubborn_ , Wonwoo thinks. He won’t give up, however. “Come on.” He takes a step forwards. “Friends of my friends are also my friends,” even though it sounds very cringey, especially when it comes from Soonyoung, “so let’s go.” And he starts walking towards the exit, leaving the building with Jihoon who finally got convinced.

Wonwoo smiles in victory.

 

Then they reach the building in which Jihoon resides. Obviously, Wonwoo didn’t know where it was and how to go to it, Jihoon guided him.

“Thanks,” Jihoon says, almost in a whisper, without looking at him. The rain is a bit loud since it’s heavy but it’s quiet enough for Wonwoo to hear him clearly.

“You’re welcome.” Wonwoo smiles at him and Jihoon plays with the edges of his sleeves.

  


The next day, it rains a lot once more. Jihoon doesn’t own an umbrella at all, so Wonwoo accompanies him again, along with Soonyoung this time.

They keep doing that everytime it rains. Soonyoung does have an umbrella like Wonwoo does, he just forgets it most of the time… this _idiot_.

It brings them closer, so even when Jihoon finally gets an umbrella, they still walk together. Even when it doesn’t rain.

**Author's Note:**

> If you need any info, please check the very first note.
> 
> Confused? Please read the title one more time ೭੧(❛▿❛✿)੭೨
> 
> ++ (october 1st) I have decided, this series will come to an end in a few months. Can you guess when will be the last day? It's very convenient, I'd say... hehe. I didn't want to say it this soon but I'm running out of ideas, honestly, and it takes a lot of time to take care of so I'll have to drop it. Thus, there will be more romance, some of the characters will start dating... So, the tags will be updated! and Seungcheol won't be the only one in a relationship anymore lol. I know, we didn't get to see a lot of Junhui. I'm sorry, he will be back full force very soon. >(  
> By the way, thanks to everyone who left kudos! And I especially want to thank all the people who got curious and read my stuff here. :-) Thank you, that kinda means a lot to me, because even though I say I don't put much effort into this, it still takes time and efforts to be put together. It's harder than it looks, seriously. Especially when deadlines are involved.


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